„Trump would try to finish the wall and deploy the US military“
Elmar Theveßen, Head of the ZDF studio in Washington, D.C., looks at possible changes in the US migration policy after the presidential election.
By Elmar Theveßen
No matter who wins the election migration rules will be tougher than in the past. However, if Donald Trump becomes president we will see a draconic migration policy consisting of three elements:
Trump would try to finish the wall and deploy the US military to turn the border into a kind of demarcation line as we know it from the Korean peninsula. He would seek to restrict US immigration and asylum entirely to people who have applied for legal entry in other countries. And Trump would use government agencies to round up more than 11 million undocumented migrants in the US, put them in internment camps and deport them swiftly. Notwithstanding the legal challenges, those policies would have a devastating effect on the US economy which relies on the migrant workforce and good trade relations with neighbor countries.
If Kamala Harris becomes president she would aim to massively strengthen border security, negotiate agreements with Mexico and states of origin and require asylum seekers to apply outside the US – as is already the case under the latest rules. She would seek to legalize most of the undocumented migrants already in the country and might try to set up quotas for legal immigration and work permits.
But both would have to find the necessary majorities in congress unless one of them tries to ignore the constitutional separation of power.
Elmar Theveßen is Head of the ZDF studio in Washington, D.C. and a Member of Atlantik-Brücke.