This ask the expert is part of MSU’s “Ask the experts: 2024 election issues series” where experts answer questions on specific issues. For this one, the topic is immigration reform.
The issue of immigration reform is one that both Republicans and Democrats have sought to address for years with little success. And many voters are losing their patience with the lack of progress — whether resulting from ineffective bills passed, bills that have failed to pass, or executive orders from presidents.
Immigration is one of several issues taking center stage in the upcoming presidential election, fueled by former President Donald Trump’s comments calling Vice President Kamala Harris President Joe Biden’s “border czar,” and Harris often discussing how most Republicans voted against a bipartisan
bill authored by one of their own colleagues that would have increased the number of border patrol agents. Regardless of which candidate wins this November, it’s clear that the complex situation at the southern border will remain a critical issue to navigate.
Veronica Tobar Thronson is a clinical professor of law who directs the Immigration Law Clinic at the Michigan State University College of Law. Here, she provides an overview of why there has been a lack of immigration reform and how it has become a leading political issue.
What work do you lead and support with the Immigration Law Clinic?
As director of the Immigration Law Clinic, I teach students how to be attorneys. Clinics are a great teaching tool for law students. While providing a much-needed service, students learn to connect their ability and energy with the great need for legal representation. The Immigration Law Clinic provides opportunities for students to practice a complex and often high-stakes field of law in a well-supervised, academically rigorous program. Students engage in direct client representation, systemic advocacy, and community outreach and education, learning substantive immigration law and procedure as they assist clients and communities in need with immigration matters. The clients we represent are among the most vulnerable: abused, abandoned and neglected children; crime and trafficking victims; and persons fleeing persecution. All of these clients are unable to afford legal representation.
The students critically assess immigration law and policy, including proposed reforms and social justice issues, and analyze how these realities affect their client population and the world at large. Students also engage as important community resources for immigrants and their families. Importantly, students learn that the work they do matters and that they make a difference. Lastly, it is important that law students in the clinic learn the reality of our broken immigration system so that they are informed and are able to correct misinformation about immigrants in this country.
Why has the issue of immigration taken so long to reform and fix?
Immigration is a very complex issue and there has not been sufficient political will to fix it. The last major legislative change to immigration law took place in 1996. The changes we have seen since then have mostly contributed to making the system more complicated, often adding severe restrictions that prevent people from regularizing their immigration status without having to leave the United States.
Further, the United States has shifted its enforcement focus to border security and detention of undocumented immigrants. According to the American Immigration Council, in fiscal year 2024, Congress provided $3.43 billion to immigration detention centers alone. GEO Group and CoreCivic, the two main private companies that run the detention centers in remote areas in the United States, made $1.05 billion and $552.2 million in revenue from contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, respectively. Further, the Department of Homeland Security is now the biggest federal law enforcement agency in the United States, with over 80,000 employees focusing on apprehension, detention and removal of immigrants from the country. By contrast, according to the latest statistics compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, there are 3,716,106 pending immigration court cases as of September 2024, and there are not enough immigration judges to adjudicate their cases in a timely manner. Congress appropriated only $840 million for the entire immigration court system in fiscal year 2024.
Why is the issue of immigration more politicized compared to other issues?
Immigrants are an easy target. Politicians demonize them because many Americans are not very well informed about the contributions that immigrants make to the country. There is a lot of misinformation about immigrants and immigration and many people believe that immigrants are in the United States without lawful status because they “choose” to not get papers rather than because immigration laws are restrictive or because pending applications are backlogged. Further, political candidates routinely are more interested in blaming each other than in finding humane solutions for the millions of immigrants who are in the United States without lawful immigration status. Instead, what we hear from some candidates is that we should be afraid of immigrants because they are “animals,” “rapists,” “criminals,” or “lazy,” not to mention eating our pets. The failure to acknowledge the humanity of immigrants and the root causes that spur their migration means that a false narrative dominates the news.
How is immigration impacting the election? Or how could it impact the election result?
Immigration is often the boogeyman of choice of politicians. While both presidential candidates are trying to secure votes by promising to provide more financial resources to secure the southern border, one in particular has adopted the tactic of dehumanizing immigrants, making us look like savages who are overtaking the country. This rhetoric may work to motivate certain people to vote. However, it is also creating fear among the immigrant community and increasing attacks and threats against people who do not look white, regardless of their immigration or citizenship status. As an immigration attorney, I worry about the safety of my clients and continue to work hard to help them achieve the immigration relief for which they qualify under the law. Once the election is over, regardless of the outcome, the Immigration Law Clinic will continue to provide representation to clients who qualify for relief.
Further, there is a significant number of immigrants who are naturalized U.S. citizens who are authorized to vote in the elections. According to an NPR article, since the last presidential election in 2020, 3.5 million immigrants have become U.S. citizens. I hope that these U.S. citizens make their voices heard.
What are some solutions or actions that Congress could pass to help fix the issue?
Given the political climate, the outcome of this upcoming election is vital. So far, nobody seems to have an appetite for comprehensive immigration reform. So, we should advocate for small fixes in the application and enforcement of immigration law that could have a major impact. For example, in June, the Biden administration announced a program under existing law for Parole in Place for undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens to be able to obtain lawful permanent residence without having to leave the United States and triggering bars for having been living in the United States unlawfully. That program was expected to help over 500,000 people who are eligible for lawful status but barred from processing due to quirks of immigration law. The program was prevented from taking effect due to a lawsuit filed by the state of Texas, so nobody has been helped yet.
Because of immigration laws that passed in 1996, people who entered without a U.S. visa are not eligible to obtain lawful immigration status in the United States and must leave the country to do their processing abroad. However, they trigger bars of inadmissibility that prevent them from coming back for three years if they were in the United States unlawfully for up to 180 days and for 10 years if they were in the U.S. unlawfully for one year or more. Getting rid of these three- and 10-year bars would allow the country to legalize the status of thousands and thousands of people who otherwise qualify to obtain status via a close family relationship or employment sponsorship.