Immigration a key issue in US presidential campaign

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00:00The candidates, Harris, Trump are on the campaign trail, such is their daily routine as the

00:09countdown to November 5th and voting day accelerates. Kamala Harris is in Washington DC. Donald

00:14Trump is in New York. Immigration is one of the big issues in this year's upcoming presidential

00:21election in the US. New York City is the destination for many migrants who arrive in America hoping

00:27to start new lives. New York correspondent Jessica Mizzouri has this report. This is the

00:35Manhattan Hotel that's been dubbed a modern-day Ellis Island, a temporary shelter for many of

00:41the 200,000 migrants that have come to New York over the past two years, including Emily and her

00:48children. It was really difficult being alone here with my kids. I ended up in hospital many

00:57times but now I have my papers. Emily was a civil engineer in Venezuela but violence and instability

01:06forced her to flee. Emily's husband has gone ahead to Ohio to look for work in the hope that his

01:12family will soon join him. Many other migrants are looking to head elsewhere due to the high

01:18cost of living here. Not Frances, she wants to stay in New York but her papers have not come

01:23through yet. In the absence of a work permit she sells empanadas on the street. If they catch me

01:31they throw out my produce or they can fine me $1,000. Frances is also from Venezuela. She came

01:37here with her four children after her husband was murdered by kidnappers. We walked through the

01:46forest, through Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, then we made it here. I try to put

01:57on a brave face. I don't like to cry. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has predicted that the

02:08migrants will cost the city $10 billion over a three-year period. This has stoked resentment

02:14from some. This postal office worker takes out his ire on an anti-Trump protester. They took money

02:22from me, what am I getting from it? Tell me what I'm getting. They're going to take our jobs too,

02:26right? Thank you. At an event for homeless and migrant families in Brooklyn a local Democrat

02:33speaks up for the new arrivals. When you see the types of jobs that a lot of the migrants have to

02:38take, they're not the types of jobs that a lot of people would even want to take. The economy is

02:44booming because these people are coming over here because they want to work. We're tired of the

02:48hate-mongering and we're tired of the divisiveness. The Democrats are banking in part on positive

02:58messaging and debunking disinformation about migrants to help them secure more votes in this

03:04presidential election. Let's bring in our reporter Jessica de Missouri live from New York. Jessica,

03:10good evening to you. Thank you for that insight into the journeys that some people have made to

03:14get to the United States. It's remarkable what they've been through. Immigration then, as we

03:19saw, a hot-button topic. Tell us more about what you're witnessing out and about in New York.

03:23Well, New York is a very particular city because it's really a magnet for migrants and it became

03:33even more so as governors from southern states started busing migrants up here to New York a

03:39couple of years ago in this sort of political tit-for-tat. Now, New York is what's known as a

03:43sanctuary city and that in part means that it has a legal obligation to provide shelter to anyone who

03:51asks for it. So, that includes migrants. And so, over the past two years, we've seen this huge

03:56influx of migrants coming to New York and they all need housing. So, what the city did is they

04:03invested a lot of funds to put these migrants, house them in hotels that had been for tourists

04:10and were then used during the COVID pandemic. They were then converted for these migrants. So,

04:16there are many of these hotels across the city. But as more migrants came in at that Port Authority

04:21bus stop, then there was no more space in these shelters. And so, there have been some other more

04:28makeshift areas that have been constructed, including on Randalls Island. And I visited

04:33Randalls Island as well. They have these huge white tent structures with migrants sleeping

04:38inside in sort of dormitory formation because there are so many people that the city is really

04:45struggling to handle this influx. Now, this has stoked some resentment, even in New York City,

04:51which is really a very democratic, progressive place, due to the fact that so much money is

04:57being spent on housing them and on processing their papers so that they can stay here legally

05:03and find a path to citizenship and work here. Indeed, we heard that in your report with the

05:08very angry man shouting at one of the supporters there in the street. New York doesn't reflect

05:14the entire US of A, does it? No, it doesn't. Because as I mentioned, it is a very progressive

05:22city. Most people here on the whole vote Democrat. They are more accepting on the whole of migrants,

05:28even though this influx has put a strain on the city. That said, this is really the second biggest

05:34issue in the presidential election, immigration. And due to the influx of immigrants, it's really

05:40on a lot of people's minds. And a recent poll shows that half of all Americans across the

05:46country do actually support the mass deportation of illegal migrants. And a quarter of Democrats

05:54also reportedly support that now. So, this is really a big issue and a tricky one for the

06:00Democrats to message on. They have really, in a sense, with their messaging, moved to the right,

06:04adopting some policies which were similar to the ones that Trump had put in place. The Democrats

06:08have been at pains to remind voters that it was Trump and the Republicans that blocked a

06:14bipartisan border security bill. Now, we've heard Trump becoming increasingly extreme in his

06:22rhetoric towards migrants, even repeating those unfounded claims of migrants eating cats and dogs.

06:28And the hope from the Democrats is that voters will just listen to Donald Trump and think, wow,

06:33this is far too extreme, that that will turn them off voting for Trump.

06:39Jessica Lim-Zure in New York. Thank you, as always, very much indeed, Jessica, there with

06:43our eye on all developments there for us. And of course, we will continue to bring you all

06:47developments on the campaign for the White House between now and voting day on November the 5th.

06:57The EU has been

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