27 SEPT 2023

Reinstating Family Separation, Deporting Dreamers and Ending Birthright Citizenship: GOP Presidential Candidates Embrace Radically Extreme Immigration Agenda Ahead of 2024 

The Republican Party continues its descent into radicalism despite polling that shows voters reject the Party’s cruel policy proposals

WASHINGTON – Tonight, GOP candidates will take the stage at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library for the second presidential primary debate of the 2024 election. The debate is likely to shine light on the candidates’ increasingly extreme immigration agenda and, in turn, demonstrate just how much further the Republican party has circled into nativism since the days of Ronald Reagan. 

In a 1980 debate, Reagan advocated for an immigration policy that legalized undocumented immigrants. He was joined in this stance by George H. W. Bush. Today, these two presidents would be criticized for taking such a sensible approach. Today, the GOP is a radical party in which family separation, ending citizenship for immigrant children, invading Mexico and deporting Dreamers are on the table. 

Recent polling captures just how unpopular these current GOP positions are in contrast to growing popularity for balanced immigration solutions. Global Strategy Group found in April that 68% of all battleground voters prefer a balanced solution to our nation’s broken immigration system, one that combines border security and a path to citizenship. For Latino voters, a BSP Research poll from September found an overwhelming preference (80%) for just such a balanced approach while 61% of Latino voters feel that Republicans are hostile towards immigrants and their economic contributions.  And just this week, Univision, the co-hosts of tonight’s GOP debate, released a bipartisan poll demonstrating that a majority of Latino voters oppose ending birthright citizenship while a majority (83%) support granting permanent protections to Dreamers. 

Republican candidates however, continue pandering to a MAGA base that has lurched to the far right under the spell of Trumpism. Ahead of the debate, catch up on where the GOP candidates stand on immigration.

Donald Trump 

  • While Trump is not participating in tomorrow’s debate, his presence will loom large as he remains the clear frontrunner for the GOP nomination. The former President’s abhorrent immigration policy arguably ushered in a new era of anti-immigrant cruelty in the GOP and has served as a blueprint for the rest of the field.

  • While in office, Trump infamously ripped apart thousands of families, tried and failed to build a costly and ineffective border wall, and moved to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for Dreamers raised in America. 

  • The former president also imposed bans on Muslims and Africans, worked to gut our nation’s  asylum system, and imposed policies like Title 42 and Remain in Mexico, leading to exponential increases in human rights abuses suffered by migrants.

  • Since announcing his candidacy for 2024, Trump has vowed to revive family separation and put into place other extremist policies. Just recently, Trump promised to invoke the “Alien Enemies Act” and to conduct mass deportations, to impose “ideological screenings” for migrants, and to end birthright citizenship by executive action – a move that runs afoul of the 14th amendment to the Constitution.

Ron DeSantis

  • In June, DeSantis proudly unveiled a vicious anti-immigrant agenda: he proposes to overturn the 14th amendment by executive order and use deadly force on the border. 

  • DeSantis’ agenda attempts to out-Trump Trump by promising deadly force. A report also recently revealed that DeSantis may have his sights set on obstructing remittances being sent from Florida to foreign countries.

  • DeSantis’s nativism is already on display in his home state, as Senate Bill (SB) 1718 is causing a mass exodus of immigrants from the state amid a severe worker shortage. This is leading to pushback from employers for wreaking havoc on the already stressed local economy. 

  • As Florida Governor, DeSantis has used migrant families as pawns, transporting migrants to different states as part of a “migrant relocation program,” – including the infamous stunt where a group of migrants were flown at Florida taxpayer expense from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard. 

Vivek Ramaswamy

  • Similar to DeSantis, Ramaswamy wants to appear tougher than Trump. He opposes any path to legal residency and promised to “universally” deport undocumented immigrants, including Dreamers and the children of undocumented immigrants–despite their U.S. citizenship.

  • He wants to deploy the U.S. military to attack Mexican drug cartels, and have America treat fentanyl as a foreign policy priority with China. Ramaswamy would withhold federal grants to cities that have walked back violent crime prosecutions and bail laws.

  • He promises to deploy drones to secure the border and to withhold federal grants to cities that he claims are lenient towards criminals and immigrants.

Nikki Haley

  • The daughter of immigrants herself, Nikki Haley visited the Southern border in April and vowed to 1) redirect IRS funding toward 25,000 new Border Patrol and ICE agents; and 2) restore the dangerous Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy.

  • Haley has said that she would also mandate the use of E-Verify among businesses in order to confirm a worker’s citizenship and immigration status. As Governor of South Carolina, Haley mandated statewide use of the system–which most employers largely ignored given the system’s complexities and potential consequences in an era of labor shortages. While Haley has criticized the use of family separation to deter migration, she proposes closing the border until reform is passed.

Tim Scott

  • Tim Scott is similarly aligned with major GOP stances and extreme policies, though he’s disagreed with calls to end birthright citizenship. His plan to tackle immigration issues, recently outlined in an op-ed, focuses on fentanyl smuggling and Mexican cartels. Scott introduced legislation this year to withhold funding from sanctuary cities and reallocate money from the IRS to border security. In 2013, he voted against the “Gang of Eight’s” comprehensive immigration reform bill.

  • Scott has called for a reinstatement of Title 42, supports the border wall, and increased U.S. military intervention along the border and potentially in Mexico itself.

Mike Pence

  • Mike Pence has called for a return to cruel Trump-era immigration policies, having played a pivotal role in the administration’s years-long attacks on immigrant communities. 

  • Pence supports a return to building the border wall, policies like Remain in Mexico and Title 42, and banning sanctuary cities that provide refuge for vulnerable migrants.

  • The former vice president often encourages immigrants to travel to the U.S. “legally,” despite the fact that the Trump-Pence administration eliminated legal pathways and slashed vital aid for Central American countries that make up the “Northern Triangle” while in office.

Chris Christie

  • Former Governor Chris Christie has in recent years joined the GOP lurch to the far right on immigration and fallen into line with the GOP’s anti-immigrant stances. 

  • In his last presidential campaign, Christie vowed to track immigrants who overstayed their visas like “FedEx packages.” Once a supporter of a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, Christie reversed his position in 2015, calling the proposal “extreme.”

  • More recently, he said he would send National Guard troops to the border to bolster enforcement and crack down on migrants trafficking fentanyl into the U.S. (The claim that migrants smuggle fentanyl is unsupported by the facts; most fentanyl is smuggled by Americans through ports of entry).

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The Immigration Hub is a national organization dedicated to advancing fair and just immigration policies through strategic leadership, innovative communications strategies, legislative advocacy and collaborative partnerships.