A group of 2,000 migrants making its way to the U.S. border could be the start of a wave of attempted crossings as the presidential election nears, according to one expert.
“I think whatever deal we struck with the government of Mexico to slow the flow leading up to the election to make the numbers look better for Harris’ campaign ends the day after the election,” Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, told Fox News Digital, referring to the Biden administration’s coordination with the Mexican government earlier this year on executive action that allowed the president to temporarily suspend entry into the country.
The comments come roughly 2,000 migrants departed from Mexico’s border on Sunday, according to a report from CBS Austin, with some admitting that they are making the journey now over fears about the result of the presidential election.
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“Whoever wins (in the United States election) should not close the doors to us, [they] should give us the support we need, because we are all really going through a bad time,” one of the migrants told the Associated Press.
Ries expects that flow to intensify between election day and the inauguration if former President Donald Trump defeats Vice President Kamala Harris, noting that migrants will fear Trump will do more to close off the southern border.
“We saw this for Trump’s first term, when numbers of people tried to get in before he came into office, because they knew he would be enforcement-minded,” Ries said, adding that a Trump victory this time would result in “quite the jump in numbers” for illegal crossings.
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Border security has been at the top of mind for voters ahead of this year’s election after a record-setting three years of illegal crossings under President Biden, an issue Harris has also had to confront after being appointed by Biden to help solve the root causes of migration in 2021.
Republicans have continued to hammer Harris for her role as “border czar” since she took over at the top of the ticket, while she has vowed stricter enforcement measures on the campaign trail.
“Those who cross our borders unlawfully will be apprehended and removed and barred from re-entering for five years,” Harris said during a September event in the border swing state of Arizona.
Trump, meanwhile, has made border security and immigration a centerpiece of his campaign, which has included promises of the “largest mass deportation in the history of our country.”
Neither the White House nor the Harris campaign responded to a Fox News Digital requests for comment.
Get the latest updates on the ongoing border crisis from the Fox News Digital immigration hub.
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