Harris likely to raise issues of immigration, economy at Democratic National Convention: Analysts

TOUGH STANCE ON IMMIGRATION

Illegal immigration is an issue that continues to divide the United States, and is a top concern for voters ahead of November’s presidential election.

In New York, for instance, migrants have been accused of disturbing once peaceful communities and patience is wearing thin.

Community advocate Renee Collymore, who has the difficult task of trying to support both its oldest and newest residents in the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Clinton Hill, said she has received many complaints. 

“(There is) extreme amounts of trash, fear for their safety,” she said. “Their homes have a heavy smell of marijuana.”

A number of serious crimes have also been reported in the neighbourhood recently.

Republicans have suggested that a migrant crime wave is rippling through the US, even though studies do not support these claims. 

Collymore told CNA that she wants to calm community tensions and offer a helping hand at a time when few others are.

“We need therapists for the migrants. We need social workers. We need medical doctors,” she added. “And they need testing – we don’t know if they brought diseases with them.”

New York has been a city synonymous with immigration, but the situation at America’s southern border has put it under strain.

A number of US cities are also facing similar issues, with the Republican Party capitalising on the unhappiness.  

At the recent Republican National Convention, party leaders made a series of claims associating migrants with “out of control” levels of crime.

Trump has taken to calling his Democratic rival Harris a failed “border czar”, and is pledging drastic measures.

“The Republican platform promises to launch the largest deportation operation in the history of our country,” he said last month. 

The total number of attempted crossings at America’s northern and southern border since February 2021 currently stands at about 10 million.

However, recent figures show that the number of people apprehended at the southern border fell 32 per cent from May to June this year.

July is likely to see the fifth consecutive monthly drop in apprehensions, following a Biden administration executive order that took effect in early June to suspend the entry of most illegal migrants.

When the Democrats take to the convention stage in Chicago next week, they are expected to show that the Biden-Harris administration has brought the border numbers down.