By Americasvoice.org | Editorial Credit: QubixStudio/shutterstock.com

Washington, DC — We expect immigration to be a major component of tonight’s presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Below are three key questions followed by related context and resources.

What are the specific details of Trump’s plan for the “bloody” and unsparing mass deportation of millions?

Donald Trump’s pledged mass deportations – involving mass roundups, mass detention, and a mass purge of both long-settled immigrants and recent arrivals – is the single most consequential immigration and economic issue of the 2024 campaign.

This weekend, Trump said regarding his mass deportation plans: “getting them out will be a bloody story.” Trump and allies have been clear that this proposed “largest deportation operation in the history of our country” would be unsparing and indiscriminate in targeting immigrants – noting, “no one is off the table” and that those targeted would include, “a woman with two children, three children.“

Trump’s plan would not only terrorize immigrant families but would come at a catastrophic cost to the U.S. economy and native-born workers – see this excellent Boston Globe op-ed from leading expert Michael Ettlinger, “Trump’s plan to vaporize the economy” for more.

At the first presidential debate, CNN moderator Jake Tapper asked Trump to specify his mass deportation vision and plans, yet Trump refused to answer and pivoted to tell lies about immigrants. Trump needs to answer the question and the American people deserve to hear specifics about his signature plan and its costs and consequences for all Americans.

Bottom Line: Any analysis of Trump’s economic policies that fails to take stock of the economic devastation he is proposing through mass deportation is incomplete and any pro-family statements he makes ought to include a discussion of the family impact of mass deportation.

Question 2: Will Trump vocalize the Big Lie 2.0 – his baseless white nationalist conspiracy theory about noncitizen voting – to undermine trust in our elections, court political violence and potentially shut down the government?

Why are Republicans and right-wing allies relentlessly focusing on the nearly non-existent threat of noncitizens voting? It’s part of a broader campaign designed to undermine American democracy, making immigrants out to be the villains to justify voter suppression targeted against eligible U.S. citizens and to undermine trust in our elections.

Relying on the white nationalist replacement theory, this Big Lie 2.0 is being used to justify purges of some eligible U.S. voters, intimidate those trying to help people register, create new bureaucratic and financial barriers to voting and lay the groundwork for contesting the results if the Republicans don’t win.

House Republicans, with the support of the Trump campaign and the entire Republican political apparatus, seem poised to repeat budget and government shutdown brinkmanship all to advance the false narrative of widespread voter fraud.

Added together, it’s a dangerous assault on American democracy that instigates the possibility of more political violence. For more: Read this Univision op-ed from Vanessa Cárdenas, “How Trump’s relentless anti-immigrant focus is tied to his threats to democracy” (Spanish version here) Listen to this press briefing with America’s Voice, the Brennan Center for Justice, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, UnidosUS, and Declaration for American Democracy to discuss the far-right disinformation campaign around non-citizen voting

Bottom Line: Will the Trump campaign be pressed by the moderators and the press to address his false narratives and efforts to pre-delegitimize the election in advance of a post-election election denial strategy?

Question 3: Will Harris embrace both parts of a “both/and” message? Going beyond the border focus to also connect with Americans’ support for legal immigration and a path to citizenship?

Both VP Harris and Gov. Tim Walz have been defining themselves as seeking reforms to our broken immigration system and supporting policies that pair an orderly border with legal pathways and opportunities for long-settled immigrants. While the border/asylum focus has been garnering most of the attention (and includes some restrictive measures we don’t support) the strategy modeled by Harris/Walz – as well as Rep. Tom Suozzi in his closely watched special election earlier this year – also involves support for vitally-needed legal channels and citizenship pathways for long-established immigrants who already live and work here.

Democrats also have coalesced around a strategy of defining contrasts with Trump and Republicans and calling out their preference for immigration politics over solutions – this includes a consistent focus on Trump’s cynical obstruction of the bipartisan, enforcement-heavy Senate bill.

If VP Harris, only focuses on the border at the presidential debate, it will be a missed opportunity to connect with the fuller views of Americans on immigration and the border and draw sharp contrasts with Trump’s unpopular and extremist ideas – from unsparing mass deportations and the proposed separation of families to ending DACA and making Dreamers eligible for deportation.

Strong majorities of the public, including Latino voters and battleground state voters, endorse a balanced approach to immigration that pairs an orderly border alongside a pathway to citizenship for immigrant families, instead of a mass deportation-only alternative (see here)

Bottom Line: Vice President Harris and other Democrats have increasingly gone on offense on immigration and border issues, making Republicans defend why they scuttled border-centric legislation to advance their partisan goals, yet Harris will leave voters on the table – especially younger voters, women, Latinos and other people of color – if she fails to present her more well-rounded immigration policy approach of prioritizing a secure border while defending and expanding legal pathways for migration and legal status for long-settled immigrants and their families.

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