Illegal immigration was not the only reason Vice President Kamala Harris lost the presidential election to President-elect Donald Trump, but it was a big one. According to the Democratic-aligned Blueprint polling firm, the second-most popular reason voters, including Hispanic people, chose Trump over Harris was that “too many immigrants illegally crossed the border under the Biden-Harris administration.”

For years, the Democrats thought immigration was a winning issue for them. After then-President Barack Obama unilaterally granted temporary amnesty through Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to about a million illegal immigrants who entered the country as children, his support among Hispanic people rose from 66% in 2008 to 70% in 2012. The Republican Party agreed with the Democrats, as the Republican National Committee autopsy of the 2012 election called on the party to capitulate to Democratic demands and give amnesty to all illegal immigrants.