She called for the reinstatement of the Title 42 ban on asylum seekers entering the United States, imposed by Trump at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in the name of public health.

“The solution to this problem is to impose a moratorium on asylum applications,” she said. “It’s really going to stagnate this uncontrollable list of people who show up at the borders and then ask for asylum. It’s like a passport: ‘Don’t touch me, I’m asking for asylum’.”

She says there is nothing contradictory between her work as an advocate for illegal immigrants and her political opposition to their entry into the United States.

“The doctor doesn’t help people with an overdose, but after an overdose, even if he doesn’t support people who are taking drugs, he will help them,” she says. “I’m the immigration doctor.”

Still, for a lawyer who urges the government to let migrants stay in the United States, she has surprisingly strong views on border security. In 2021, she ran for mayor of Miami, but was disqualified for living outside the city limits.

Like many Americans who were not born in this country, she now sees it as her duty to protect it from outsiders.

“I have to protect the land where I live,” she says. “I can’t just destroy it, like it’s just a party with friends and no one cares about the house. This is not an Airbnb. It’s a house.

Central concern

The asylum system, while rarely addressed directly by Trump or Ms. Harris on the campaign trail, is a central concern of policymakers and law enforcement officials working on border security.

The Title 42 ban was lifted by Mr. Biden last May, when the last pandemic-related emergency rules were repealed.

Since 2021, when he took office, the number of asylum applications filed in U.S. courts each year has more than quadrupled, with more migrants than ever arriving from outside South America.

Most of the newest arrivals come from China and have been trafficked through Central America to the border by criminal gangs. The share of families in total migrants has increased sharply, creating an even more serious dilemma for authorities faced with young children at the border.

David Hathaway, the sheriff of Santa Cruz County, Arizona, spends much of his time in Nogales, a city that straddles the Mexican border and is a point of entry for migrants seeking asylum or of work.

He rejects claims that migrants are causing more crime, pointing out that crime rates are lower in his county compared to the rest of the state.

According to him, the problem lies rather in the bureaucracy which welcomes new arrivals, most of whom are looking for work.

“This asylum program is a disaster,” he said. “What we need is a guest worker program.”

“Donald Trump says all Mexicans who come here are rapists, murderers, drug dealers and criminals. People like this sensational rhetoric, but they don’t really know what it looks like because they haven’t lived here.