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Vice President Harris and former President Trump have had some of their most intense battles of the campaign trail on how each would handle immigration and the border.
Trump has made immigration and the border central to his campaign — often jumping to draw attention to the issue during debates even when asked about other topics.
He’s made sweeping calls for the National Guard and local police to conduct mass deportations, saying his second term would carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history.”
Those pledges have been paired with a number of false claims about migrants, including the promotion of a conspiracy theory that accused Haitian migrants of abducting and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
Harris, for her part, has embraced restrictions at the border that previously have been eschewed by Democrats, stressing the need to maintain limits on asylum even as she’s called for a pathway to citizenship for some migrants.
Here’s where Harris and Trump come down on the issues of the border and immigration.
Harris has aligned herself with a failed bipartisan border deal that was rejected by Trump.
That deal introduced new limits on asylum, since imposed by the Biden administration, cutting off access to protections from persecution if a certain number of migrants cross the border between ports of entry.
The bill also would have funneled $20 billion to surge resources to the border, including to hire 1,500 more agents — something an already-strapped Border Patrol sees as key to securing the border.
The legislation came as the result of a demand from Republicans to require a border security bill in exchange for foreign aid and was drafted in part by conservative Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.).
But months of negotiations evaporated almost immediately when Trump criticized the legislation, calling it a “great gift to the Democrats.”
“You know what happened to that bill? Donald Trump got on the phone, called up some folks in Congress, and said kill the bill. And you know why? Because he preferred to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem,” Harris said during the September debate.
Trump has said that on Day 1 in office he would take a similar track to the bill he killed, barring migrants from seeking asylum if they cross between ports of entry.
He has also pledged to give border agents a 10 percent raise and to hire 10,000 more border officers.
Trump has said he would impose a number of restrictions on immigration, like ending birthright citizenship for those not born to American parents. He also pledged to suspend “chain” migration, which allows citizens to petition to bring relatives to the U.S. Chain migration is how former first lady Melania Trump’s parents became citizens.
Trump has also said he would revoke the temporary status that allows Haitian migrants to remain in the U.S., like he did with migrants from other countries while in office, and would also pause all refugee admissions.