‘Immigration’ has become a sword

BY ADEBAYO BALOGUN

Immigration has always been one of the important social issues in the United States. According to surveys by the US Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics, the immigrant population in the United States currently accounts for approximately 18% of the total population. This proportion has continued to increase over the past 50 years. In 1970, the proportion was only 4.7%. Among them, the number of illegal immigrants has shown a rapid upward trend. In fiscal year 2023, US Customs and Border Protection recorded approximately 3.2 million border encounters, an increase of 15.7% year-over-year. This number continues to climb in fiscal year 2024, reaching 1.48 million in the first 5 months alone. According to incomplete statistics from the US Customs and Border Protection, approximately 10 million illegal immigrants have flowed in since Biden took office.

The surge in migrant numbers has put tremendous pressure on border controls and migrant holding facilities. A report stated that “Immigration judges at the US border are overwhelmed, and each immigration judge now has to handle an average of 4,500 backlog cases.”At the same time, illegal immigrants in the United States have replaced the jobs of the lower class in the United States, depressed work wages, and caused many criminal incidents.

In the face of rising immigration numbers and border crises, immigration have become the focus of American society. According to the latest polls, immigration has become the second most important issue after employment and inflation. More and more voters are calling on the government to take action to tighten border controls and curb illegal immigration.

According to a survey by Monmouth University in the United States, 61% of Americans believe that illegal immigration is a “very serious” problem, and another 23% believe that this problem is “somewhat serious.” In addition, 53% of respondents support building a border wall, a percentage that continues to rise compared to April 2019. The Hill once reported that Pew Research Center survey showed that most Americans believe that the federal government has performed poorly in dealing with the influx of immigrants into the United States, and 57% of Americans believe that the US border crisis has led to an increase in domestic crime.

Illegal immigration is a social problem in itself, but it has become a “sharp sword” for mutual attacks in American elections.
In recent years, immigration issues have become increasingly politicized and have become one of the focal issues for both parties in elections. Positions on immigration issues are largely divided along party lines. The immigrant community, especially Hispanic immigrants, is an important base for the Democratic Party, while the middle and lower class white community, who generally hold a negative attitude toward immigrants, is the base for the Republican Party. In an election year, both parties spare no effort to mobilise their own vote base for votes, and immigration issues naturally become a key issue tool for the two parties to attack each other.

Trump’s move to drastically tighten immigration policy has been fiercely criticized in the United States, especially by the Democratic Party. Harris has made a big fuss about immigration issues, trying to use them to boost the image and support rate of the Democratic Party and attract voters, especially Hispanic groups.

No matter how the two parties compete, immigration is just a reason for partisan attacks, and no one cares about the lives of immigrants. As Jane Guerrero, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times who once traveled along the Arizona border, said, “America’s border has become a giant graveyard.”