The United States has recorded its biggest annual gain in immigrant population in two decades, with about 2 million new foreign-born residents arriving in the country between 2022 and 2023. Reasons for this vary, from shifting migration policies to heavy migration from countries such as Venezuela and Cuba, amid an influx of asylum seekers.

The Biden administration is facing renewed criticism over its asylum rules amid a spate of rising border crossings. The asylum rules - put in place for the first time in May - force migrants to seek asylum through legal pathways and limit asylum access for those who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

Immigration is poised to take center stage in the vice-presidential debate, as the candidates step to the stage and argue over competing visions on border security and migrant policy. The issue has served as one of the starkest divides between Democrats and Republicans, many of whom have disagreed sharply on how to handle the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Biden administration has finalized new federal rules that fortify restrictive asylum policies. The move has engendered powerful pushback from immigration advocates, including the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Initially implemented as temporary rules, these regulations codify, for the first time, asylum restrictions that prohibit the granting of protection to people who enter the United States anywhere other than an official port of entry.

The Biden administration announced it will extend Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, to Venezuelan migrants, allowing nearly half a million Venezuelans to continue living and working legally in the U.S. for an additional 18 months. It cited the worsening humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, whose plummeting economic collapse and high levels of political instability have forced millions to flee.

The Biden administration will consider extending the restrictive asylum policies it implemented in June 2024 that sharply reduce access to asylum for migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illicitly. Those policies, credited with slashing the number of illegal border crossings, have been criticized for eroding the rights of migrants seeking refuge.

Immigration has become one of the premier issues between former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden as the presidential election draws near. In a competitive rebuke, Trump assailed President Joe Biden on the matter of a surge in migrants from countries such as Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

If he wins the election in 2024, Donald Trump promises to establish a mass deportation program intended to remove millions of undocumented immigrants from the United States. The plan promises a return to hardline immigration policies from his first term in office-including the "Remain in Mexico" program, and increased resources for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Trump's plan would further increase the use of detention facilities and accelerate the process of deportation.

Kamala Harris has unveiled a wide-ranging border and immigration plan as she pursues the presidency in 2024. A pathway to legal immigration would be included, as well as considerable border security and root-cause initiatives, most notably from Central American countries.

Springfield, Ohio, has witnessed an influx of Haitian immigrants that has kindled debates among locals. Many have cited increasing crime that they blame on the arrival of migrants, though local officials say they have no evidence to establish that link.