Since his first campaign announcement about nine years ago Donald Trump made anti-immigration rhetoric his main focus-point. Through the 2024 election cycle he kept pushing this agenda blocking a bi-partisan border deal in Feb 24 (which would have given Republicans most of what they wanted)
During his campaign against incumbent Joe Biden Trump made several bold statements including unfounded claims about immigrants in Ohio. His rhetoric got more intense as polls showed immigration was a top-priority for voters; many blamed Biden for loosening border rules back in 21
The new administrationʼs early picks show Trumpʼs serious intentions: Stephen Miller – the person behind first-term travel bans will be deputy chief-of-staff and Tom Homan – ex-ICE acting chief becomes border czar. These appointments point to a clear direction: strict enforcement and deportation policies
To understand Trumpʼs strategy its helpful to look at Ronald Reaganʼs similar approach with anti-communism. In the 80s Reagan used this issue to unite different groups:
- evangelical Christians
- fiscal conservatives
- business deregulators
- hawkish Republicans
- neo-conservative Democrats
There is a bear in the woods. For some people the bear is easy to see
Reaganʼs strategy worked well – he won re-election with a land-slide victory getting 525 electoral votes. However unlike Reagan who later found common-ground with Mikhail Gorbachev Trump shows no signs of wanting compromise on immigration. His hard-line stance seems set to continue even though he gained support among Latino voters
With Democrats now avoiding talks about citizenship paths and focusing on border control instead Trumpʼs strategy appears to be working. The next four years might see unprecedented changes in US immigration policy – a core issue that keeps Trumps diverse coalition together