On immigration, Harris needs to broker a border deal and revive bipartisan consensus 

The Trump campaign, and its allies through Project 2025, have proposed more than 200 proposals to choke off immigration in a second Trump term. In contrast, Vice President Harris’s campaign has offered few substantive ideas, although the Democratic platform lays out more details. 

Immigration and the border crisis remain a top concern for Americans. If Harris is elected, her top priority must be reducing border chaos, which is eroding public support for immigration, endangering migrants and clogging up our bloated legal immigration bureaucracy. 

A Trump presidency would bring unprecedented border crackdowns, nationwide mass deportations and the sabotage of the legal immigration system. Harris must reject such extremism, but she also must stand against progressives on her side of the aisle who refuse to compromise on asylum.

The consensus from the American people is clear: Make illegal immigration harder and legal immigration easier. Harris's task is to pass a historic border security bill, resolve the crisis, and revive a bipartisan consensus through pragmatic migration control and streamlined skilled immigration that works in service of the American people. 

In her keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, Harris referenced the Lankford-Murphy border compromise bill, stating, “As president, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he [Donald Trump] killed, and I will sign it into law.” She must fulfill this promise, and immigration advocates should demand a bill that changes the law, limits asylum eligibility, boosts resources and fixes the issue. Opposing such a bill only weakens their cause. We need strong and secure borders, an orderly process, the rejection of invalid asylum claims and the deportation of criminals.

This legislation is key to restoring public confidence in immigration as a benefit to the American way of life. Only Congress can act decisively on the border, and its continued failure to do so risks jeopardizing immigration as a central pillar of our nation. By addressing border security, Harris, congressional Democrats and moderate Republicans can neutralize a politically charged issue and prioritize the public good over partisan politics.

If the border crisis persists, long-term public support for immigration is at risk. Most Americans oppose open borders and chaotic, unregulated asylum. While they support immigration, they reject large-scale illegal crossings. Failure to secure the border empowers immigration restrictionists, plays into the hands of extremists and harms the pro-immigration movement's image. The truth is, very few Americans back the open-borders approach advocated by asylum hard-liners.

The border is the top immigration issue, but policy extends beyond asylum. Trump’s advisors have drafted new executive orders and policy memos to dismantle legal immigration in a second term. That thinking reflects extremist views, not sound public policy. Harris can pursue reforms to streamline legal immigration, serving U.S. interests and fostering a bipartisan consensus. She can restore public trust and deliver benefits for both immigrants and Americans. After she negotiates a border bill, we recommend four key administrative proposals. 

First, Harris should administratively recapture all legally available green cards. Accumulated administrative errors have left hundreds of thousands of unused green card slots that Congress has authorized available for recapture. Recapturing unused green cards and preventing green cards from going unused in the future would help allot the visas Congress intended while generating many billions of dollars of economic activity and billions in net revenue streams. 

Second, a Harris administration should offer H-2B, H-2A, and J-1 visa referrals at Safe Mobility Offices. The U.S. should offer work visas at these offices for eligible applicants. We must begin soliciting and translating the labor skills of all applicants for opportunities for potential employers to review, and we need to significantly expand the use of CBP One to capture more information about those attempting to make appointments at the border and the offices. Providing expanded labor pathways is crucial to address domestic labor shortages and meet the needs of economic migrants in the region.

Third, Harris can grow the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to at least 250,000. The administration will resettle 100,000 refugees this year, a 30-year high. There is ample processing capacity for the U.S. to welcome significantly more refugees. The Harris administration should also scale the Welcome Corps, Welcome Corps on Campus and Welcome Corps at Work programs to better leverage the private sector. 

Finally, Harris can expand the J-1 au pair program. The U.S. is currently grappling with a “care crisis” for our seniors. To alleviate this, a potential Harris administration can expand the J-1 au pair program to encompass senior care. Such a regulatory adjustment could help reduce the burden on caregivers and reduce the cost of care.

A few other administrative proposals also deserve attention, such as updating the Schedule A list, finalizing the H-1B rule, expanding the J-1 skills list, scaling the domestic visa revalidation pilot program, offering work authorization to O-3 visa holders, and making health care degrees in nursing and medicine eligible for the STEM OPT extension. These are the type of wonky, technical fixes that don’t make headlines but move our immigration system forward in a modern and nimble way. 

Immigrants strengthen America, but our immigration system must align with national interests by enhancing what benefits the U.S. and reducing what doesn’t. By leveraging immigration policy to advance domestic and foreign policy goals, Harris can help rebuild the consensus our country urgently needs on this issue.

A Harris presidency must limit border chaos, streamline skilled immigration, and move to revive a bipartisan consensus on the issue. Championing a pragmatic approach to the border and security coupled with an innovative and fresh approach to broader reforms offers the best opportunity for changes we have seen in decades.

Kristie De Pena is senior vice president for policy at the Niskanen Center and Matthew La Corte is deputy director of immigration policy at the Niskanen Center.