Whether Harris or Trump Wins, Seeking Asylum in the U.S. May Never Be the Same

As administrations of both parties have failed to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws, a reckoning for the asylum system, which some say is overdue, seems inevitable.

For decades, granting political asylum has been part of the story that the United States has told about itself. As a Western democracy and a nation of immigrants, that national ethos goes, America has an obligation to offer safe harbor to people fleeing persecution in their home countries.

But regardless of who wins the White House in November, the 2024 presidential election is likely to mark the end of the asylum system as Americans have known it, according to interviews with roughly two dozen immigration lawyers, scholars and former federal officials. That system is broken, many critics, supporters and even ordinary Americans said — a result of its transformation into something that it wasn’t intended to be at its creation.

While former President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris offer starkly different perspectives on immigration policy, both candidates nonetheless promise sweeping restrictions on granting asylum, signaling the overhaul of longstanding commitments that have made the United States a global leader in aid to refugees.

The shift — a response to the rising number of Americans who have grown concerned about migrants entering the country — could have broad implications for people who have long seen the United States as a beacon of hope for protection from violence or political repression. With at least 169,000 people claiming asylum at the U.S. southern border last year alone, many are finding themselves increasingly stranded in desperate, unsafe conditions like camps or crowded boats as other Western democracies similarly tighten their borders and authoritarian governments expand their powers.

Mr. Trump, who during his presidency severely reduced the number of refugees and asylum seekers allowed to enter the country, is promising even more drastic actions to curb both legal and illegal immigration if elected again.

Ms. Harris has vowed to continue executive measures enacted by President Biden this year that restrict how and where people can apply for asylum at the nation’s southern border. Those measures solidified Democrats’ rejection of the long tradition of providing asylum, a change that would have been inconceivable for the party until recently.