Politics
Immigration Has Become a Key Point in the Presidential Race. Here’s How Some Chicagoans See the Issue
From mass deportation to a pathway to citizenship, immigration has been a defining issue in this year’s presidential campaign.
Former President Donald Trump has worked to distance himself from Project 2025 — the conservative playbook written by some of his key allies that outlines recommendations like increasing detention facilities and terminating DACA status for Dreamers.
Vice President Kamala Harris has advocated for the bipartisan immigration reform bill that was proposed this year, but never made it to a vote.
During Trump’s presidential campaign, he has made two major immigration-related promises: to build a wall and to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.
As Election Day approaches, members of the Republican Party continue to criticize the Biden-Harris administration and the role they’ve played in immigration reform.
“I think it’s been an abject failure. I think that Biden and Harris prioritized illegals over citizens,” said Chuck Hernandez, chairman for the Chicago Republican Party.
President Joe Biden’s recent attempt for immigration reform received pushback. The parole-in-place program allows undocumented spouses married to U.S. citizens to apply for citizenship without having to leave the country. Sixteen Republican-led states filed a lawsuit against the order placing a temporary hold on the program.
Project 2025 describes potential plans to eliminate programs such as these while utilizing law enforcement agencies to provide tighter immigration control.
“It's militarizing and weaponizing all these policies just to serve their white supremacist agenda,” said Dulce Ortiz, board president of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and executive director of Mano a Mano Family Resource Center. “Everything in there, talking about the mass deportation, the criminalizing of the southern border and using the US military make it even more difficult to seek asylum.”
ICIRR’s mission is to empower immigrant families so they can become participants in their communities. And they have a continued goal demanding a pathway to citizenship for all.
“People come to this country because they’re fleeing violence,” Ortiz said. “They’re fleeing economic downturns in their countries, and most of the time it does have to deal with the United States and its foreign policy that have deeply negatively impacted those countries. And so when they’re coming here to ask for asylum, and [the U.S.] making it even harder you’re just leaving those people out there to die, essentially, because they’re not safe.”
Mass deportation is a common theme throughout tProject 2025, which states direct orders for ICE “stop ignoring criminal aliens” and take into custody “all aliens with records for felonies, crimes of violence, previous removals, and any other crime that is considered a national security or public safety threat as defined under current laws.”
“We would begin there with deporting the violent criminals within our city,” said Hernandez. “Obviously you prioritize the criminal debts here. And then we begin to take note of who we have here in our country and who’s abiding by our laws, and find a way where Congress can, maybe can pass some legislation.”
There have also been calls for reinstating Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy, which would allow immigrants to enter the country on a case-by-case basis.
“We actually took a trip when that policy was put in place… and just the conditions were deplorable… They were living in fear because their lives were being threatened every day by the cartels,” said Ortiz.
Members of the Republican Party describe policies in Project 2025 as plans to place America first.
“We believe in our policy America first, and that’s what President Trump talks about,” said Hernandez. “We do those things that are going to benefit America. If it means allowing legal immigration into this country, then, yes, we take in legal immigrants, especially if they have talents that can benefit our country.”
The document lays out plans to stop all pending immigration applications and placing limitations on H2A, H2B and H1-B temporary work visas classified as legal forms of immigration.
“Some feel they cannot move forward with their life if there’s no certainty to having legal immigration status. We see the pain that causes … and the hurt in our communities,” said Ortiz.
