Immigration has been a flash point of the U.S. political debate for decades. Efforts at comprehensive immigration reform have repeatedly foundered in Congress, in part due to disagreement over whether to create a path to citizenship for the more than eleven million undocumented residents in the United States, many of whom are from Mexico and Central America.

The response to the situation at the southern U.S. border has become increasingly divisive over the past five years as a growing number of migrants attempt to cross into the United States. In fiscal year 2023, U.S. border authorities encountered close to 2.5 million people, a record-breaking amount. Many were fleeing violence, poverty, and environmental challenges in their home countries, including those from Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, Venezuela, and the so-called Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

The surge in migration has strained local and federal resources and renewed the debate over U.S. immigration policy. It has also prompted Republican-led border states such as Florida and Texas to take matters into their own hands, including by transporting thousands of migrants to northern, Democrat-run cities. Many Republican policymakers accuse President Joe Biden of failing to secure the border and safeguard U.S. national security, while other lawmakers argue that the influx of migrants demonstrates the need for comprehensive immigration reform. 

Immigration has become many voters’ central concern ahead of the election. In early 2024, polling showed that 28 percent of Americans surveyed—most of whom identified as Republican—considered immigration to be the top problem facing the United States. This marked the first time the issue has risen to the top since a previous migration surge in 2019.