Immigration emerges as contentious issue in US presidential race

PTI, Oct 27, 2024, 2:54 PM IST

With just nine days left for Election Day, immigration remained one of the contentious issues in the US presidential campaign with many immigrants, including from India and other South Asian nations, fearing a backlash if former President Donald Trump wins the poll.

In his campaign speeches, the Republican Party presidential candidate promised a radical shift to tighten Washington’s immigration policy and vowed to carry out the “largest” domestic deportation operation in American history of undocumented immigrants and review the existing refugee programmes if he is reelected.

The 78-year-old Republican leader has even resolved to end birthright citizenship for the children of immigrants living in the US illegally, triggering concerns among various diaspora communities, including from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

Various pro-immigration advocacy groups have criticised Trump over his rhetoric on immigration, saying the discontinuation of birthright citizenship is legally questionable as it is enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution.

On her part, Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the Democratic presidential candidate, has underlined the need for curtailing illegal immigration and has said the US immigration system is broken and requires legislative measures to be fixed.

At a campaign rally this week, Trump accused Harris, 60, of bringing in “migrant gangs and illegal alien criminals” into the US, adding, “Her policy of importing migrant gangs is a crime against our country.” “This is a very sensitive issue and we are worried about the possible fallout of Trump’s victory,” said Mohammad Iqbal, a Bangladesh-origin green card holder living in Atlanta for over a decade.

“Trump’s policy is creating panic among various migrant societies and that is why they are supporting Vice President Kamala Harris,” he noted.

Vasudev Patel, general secretary of the Federation of Indian-Americans in Georgia, said the Republican leader is looking to welcome “educated” and “peaceful” people to come to the US.

A survey report by Pew Research has found that the supporters of both presidential candidates differ on mass deportations but favour border security.

Nearly nine-in-ten Trump supporters (88 per cent) favour mass deportations of immigrants living in the country illegally, it said.

In contrast, only 27 per cent of Harris supporters favour mass deportations while 72 per cent oppose it, the survey found.

Latanya, a student from Michigan, said immigration is a major issue in the election and she was upset with Trump over his policy on it.

“I think Harris is a much better choice than Trump in the election,” she added.

The US presidential race remained very tight, with both Harris and Trump locked in a dead heat for the popular votes in most swing states.

The final nationwide CNN poll found this week that 47 per cent of likely voters support Harris and an equal 47 would endorse Trump in the elections.

In the final New York Times/Siena College national poll from October 20 to 23, the two aspirants are tied at 48 per cent. The remaining four per cent were yet to decide on their preference.

A separate poll conducted by the Financial Times and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business showed that 44 per cent of respondents trust Trump to handle the economy as opposed to 43 per cent for Harris.

An analysis by the FiveThirtyEight poll tracker, however, showed that Harris has a slight edge over Trump with 1.7 percentage points.

To win the race for the White House, the successful candidate will have to secure 270 of the 538 electoral votes up for grabs.

The seven key swing states which are seen to be crucial to determining the election results are Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Nevada.