The Stakes: What Harris and Trump have done about the border -- and what they want to do next

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

61% : What Trump wants to do next: More of the same -- with the emphasis on more.
51% : Here's what Harris and Trump have done so far about the border -- and what they plan to do next.
44% : Trump quickly zeroed in on his signature border wall as well.
44% : Trump supporters and critics largely agree that the former president's strict policies -- including narrowing who is eligible for asylum; making it more difficult to qualify for permanent residency or citizenship; rolling back the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program; and forcing Central American asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases are processed -- "deterred" some migrants from even trying to cross the border.
43% : "The previous year, Trump infamously launched his first presidential campaign by claiming that most Mexican immigrants are "people [who] have lots of problems.
43% : "What Trump did in office: During his four years in office, Trump issued more than 400 executive actions on immigration.
42% : Among the ramped-up policies Trump is reportedly planning, according to the New York Times:In an April interview with Time magazine, Trump confirmed that he is plotting "a massive deportation of people" using "local law enforcement" and the National Guard -- and "if they weren't able to," he added, "then I'd use [other parts of] the military.
41% : Ultimately, Trump managed to build just 458 miles of barrier along the 1,954-mile U.S.-Mexico border -- nearly all of it in areas where older barriers already stood.
40% : On Friday, Harris is traveling to the southern border for the first time since June 2021 -- and to continue hammering Trump while she's there."Donald Trump believes a border deal would hurt his campaign," Harris said at last month's Democratic National Convention.
39% : Mexico did not pay for any of Trump's border wall.
38% : Trump spent much of 2016 vowing to build a physical wall along the border between the U.S. and Mexico -- possibly fortified with spikes, electricity and an alligator moat -- and make Mexico pay for it.
38% : ""You know, if it gets a little boring, if I see people starting to sort of, maybe thinking about leaving," Trump told the Times editorial board, "I just say, 'We will build the wall!'
38% : On Jan. 27, 2017, Trump signed an order seeking to block travelers from seven majority Muslim countries for 90 days while suspending refugee resettlement and prohibiting Syrian refugees indefinitely.
36% : In March 2020, Trump implemented the emergency health authority known as Title 42, which allowed border officials to rapidly turn away asylum seekers on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19 -- without giving them a chance to appeal for U.S. protection.
34% : "So how could the differences between Harris and Trump reshape U.S. border policy?The election in November will be the first in U.S. history to feature a former president competing against the current vice president.
32% : In early 2021, Biden halted construction of the border wall; ended his predecessor's travel bans; created a task force to reunify migrant families separated under Trump; reinstated DACA; ended Title 42 expulsions for unaccompanied minors; and ordered a pause on most ICE arrests and deportations, issuing new guidelines directing officers to prioritize national security threats, serious criminals and recent border crossers.
29% : ""We will begin the largest domestic deportation operation in American history," Trump promised in February, adding elsewhere that immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country" and coming to the U.S. from "mental institutions.
27% : "Around the same time, Trump said he would create a "deportation force" that would expel millions of unauthorized immigrants.
27% : But Trump balked -- and following his lead, Republicans on Capitol Hill effectively doomed the legislation.
25% : Trump eventually ended his "family separation" policy -- but only after images of crying, traumatized kids detained in crowded facilities sparked a national outcry.
23% : Previously: Where Trump and Harris stand on abortion.
21% : Initially, the Biden administration kept Title 42 in place (until May 2023), expelling five times more border crossers than Trump did (in large part because more migrants were trying to cross the border illegally).
21% : "Trump has also said he would suspend refugee resettlement, revive his "Remain in Mexico" policy and end DACA.
20% : Starting in 2011, Trump boosted his profile on the right by positioning himself as the leading proponent of the false conspiracy theory that then-President Barack Obama -- whose father was from Kenya -- wasn't born in Hawaii as stated on his birth certificate.
16% : Where Trump is coming from: More than anything else, Trump built his political following on a hard-line approach to immigration.
13% : Yet since launching her presidential bid, Harris has gone on offense, accusing Trump of undermining a recent bipartisan effort to increase border security so he could keep running on the issue.
9% : In 2016, Trump finally admitted that so-called birthers (those who believe Obama isn't a native-born citizen) were wrong and that "Obama was born in the United States.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.