People living in the United States and Europe immigrate for a multitude of reasons and always have. They could be fleeing conflict zones, they could be moving for financial reasons, or they could simply be exploring. Immigration is not only something humans have always done but it’s a normal thing for most living creatures to do. Birds migrate constantly for survival purposes and it is no different for us.

Here in the United States, immigration is one of the most hotly debated topics in modern politics. People immigrate worldwide all the time because it’s often a human necessity and simply a normal thing to do and yet, especially to the American right wing, it’s up there with the most important issues there is.

In fact, most of the issues that end up on the ballot for republicans revolve around moving backwards in progressive policies and/or taking away rights already granted to people. Think of the attacks on gay marriage, the repeal of Roe v. Wade, banning books, and restricting rights and care for trans people.

There are European politicians that have acknowledged immigration as a possible thing to pass policy on like the Chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz, who has said he fears public spaces due to immigration. However, it isn’t as pressing of an issue to most European politicians. Why is that?

U.S. Immigration

During all three of his presidential campaigns, Donald Trump made immigration a central pillar of what he’d focus on if he got elected. Infamously, during his first campaign he said he’d build a physical border wall along the southern border and force Mexico to pay for it – less than 50% of his planned 1000 new miles were built by the end of his first term and it cost roughly 15 billion dollars entirely paid for by Congressional appropriations and diverted funds from the Department of Defense, not by Mexico.

During his current term, he has put his main focus into increasing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity nationwide. In July 2026, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) was passed which focuses on permanent tax cuts, border security funding, and deregulation.

The border security funding meant ICE received roughly $45 billion for detention capacity and $30 billion for operation and enforcement, including new hires. This means ICE would be considered the highest funded federal law enforcement agency in the U.S.

What ICE is doing in the U.S. may be heavily supported by the government, but not so much by the people. A recent poll found that 60% of Americans think ICE has gone too far in their recent actions.

In 2026, the American Immigration Council reported there had been six deaths in ICE detention centers and two public fatal shootings. Roughly 70% of ICE detainees had no criminal record and of the ones who did, 14% had no violent crime charges. Yet, Trump still claims this is about removing crime from our streets. None of the people who were killed were given due process. It is important to not reduce these people to numbers so here are their names: Luis Gustavo Núñez Cáceres, Geraldo Lunas Campos, Víctor Manuel Díaz, Parady La, Renee Nicole Good, Luis Beltrán Yáñez–Cruz, Heber Sánchez Domínguez, and Alex Pretti.

European Immigration

The biggest difference when looking at immigration in Europe and America is that unless someone is an indigenous American, they come from immigrants. America was built as a melting pot of many rich cultures that shaped what it is today. Many European countries on the other hand have a colonial history. They were often the ones going to other places and migrating themselves.

Many people who migrate to the U.S. do so for economic reasons whereas Europe has a higher number of people seeking safety and asylum from nearby countries facing war and conflict. This is why you’ll see the American discussion around immigration come back to immigrants allegedly stealing jobs – it is important to know that stats show immigration is actually more beneficial to the economy than deporting the workforce.

From a policy standpoint, Europe has something called The Schengen Area. This is a large area of Europe made up of 29 countries that completely removed border control from any borders shared between countries in the initiative. This essentially creates a large area with one simple visa policy.

While immigration has greatly increased in Europe over the last few years – roughly 10% of people living in the EU weren’t born there – is that really a problem? Most economists will tell you that immigration is a net positive for any nation. Immigrants boost birth rates and have more people entering the work force. They also have been shown to really only take low level jobs. 

Immigration Process

On top of that, most immigrants who immigrated with the intent of committing crime will try to stay under the radar and won’t try to obtain citizenship. Immigrants are actually the least likely demographic to commit crimes anyways. This is reflected in the fact that 74% of people detained by ICE don’t have a criminal record. Immigrating illegally isn’t even a criminal offense, it’s a civil offense.

If not obtaining citizenship is the only offense they’ve committed, why don’t more people obtain citizenship? Well, there is a multitude of reasons why someone might not apply. High costs (application and legal fees), fear of deportation, language barriers, complex, long, or confusing paperwork, and lack of information on the process are the most frequent reasons why someone might not even bother applying. 

One year ago, many officials from all over the world met at the Munich Security Conference (MSC). This is an annual forum where these officials come to represent their country and debate national security policy and issues.

Last year, U.S. Vice President JD Vance came on behalf of the current U.S. administration. Many expected him to speak on the still ongoing invasion of Russia into Ukraine or plans for how to end the conflict in Palestine, but that’s not what happened.

On Feb. 14 2025, Vance decided to dedicate his time to criticizing how many European countries handle immigration. His administration has decided that immigration is one of the biggest issues back at home, but does he have the moral standing to tell other countries how to handle it?

Many European politicians felt upset after Vance’s speech and this was clear immediately after he finished. His speech was met with silence from everyone in the room and the reasoning is clear. Europe isn’t blind to what happens in American politics and they believe Vance is a hypocrite.

During his speech, at one point he said, “And of all the [pressing] challenges that the nations represented here face, I believe there is nothing more urgent than mass migration.” 

Europe has issues like Russia continuing to ravage Ukraine since 2012 after the illegal annexation of Crimea or trying to bring peace between Israel and Palestine. Instead of truly discussing those, he criticized immigration which the U.S. has shown it doesn’t have a handle on either. Vance was not invited back in 2026.

The two places clearly have pretty different ideas of how immigration should be handled, but subjective opinions aside, America doesn’t have a handle on immigration.

A year out from the MSC and it’s only gotten worse. And you’d think it is common sense to not criticize others for something you don’t have a handle on yourself, but apparently that is not the current case.