In the US election, a tough-on-immigration stance from president-elect Donald Trump, including promises of mass deportations, appears to have resonated with voters. History shows that these policies may have initial public support, but raise other issues when executed.

The issue of immigration reform is one that both Republicans and Democrats have sought to address for years with little success. The reason, sys one expert: Immigration is a very complex issue and there has not been sufficient political will to fix it.

For decades, the business lobby helped shape immigration legislation and moderated the immigration debate, working alongside advocates for immigrants. In the Trump era, businesses now see more risk than reward in immigration politics. Many have prioritized what’s still doable: tax cuts and deregulation.

The share of the US population who are immigrants—legal and illegal—rose just 0.4 percentage points, from 13.9 percent to 14.3 percent from July 2022 to July 2023. Over the last decade, the U.S. has seen the slowest growth in the immigrant share of the population since the 1960s. The immigrant share is growing slowly and is still below its record high in 1890, even though the U.S. is currently experiencing the slowest total population growth in its history.

Immigrants are not taking jobs away from Americans or causing the unemployment rate to rise. A decline in immigration would be a bad sign for the labor market. Immigrants come when job opportunities exist. As the labor market has cooled, fewer immigrants have been crossing the border illegally since the start of the year.

Immigration is a far more complex topic than border security alone, and strategists may be miscalculating by failing to consider some key voters and their nuanced perspectives, recent polling shows. Growing populations of new and first-generation citizens in the swing states — with the power to sway elections — are transforming demographics and voter concerns.

The greatest number of Canadians who’ve illegally entered the U.S. or attempted to illegally enter in recorded U.S. history has been reported under the Biden-Harris administration and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s administration.

Historical examples suggest that enacting forced relocation, internment, and deportation is nowhere near the longshot many experts believe. In a second term, the biggest challenge for Trump’s mass-deportation agenda would likely not be legal — the courts cannot be counted on to stand in his way— but logistical and monetary.

Petro has eroded Colombia’s institutions for managing migration since taking office in 2022, leaving Colombia ill-equipped to handle a new Venezuelan migration wave; Bukele’s mano dura tactics got results on crime, but won’t fix the economy.