Here's where the 2024 presidential candidates stand on immigration

Immigration has once again emerged as a major issue ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Republicans are seeking to paint Democrats as inept at the border, blaming liberal policies for sparking a "crisis" that could overwhelm border communities and breaking new ground on how they'd fix it -- at the same time that Democrats argue conservatives would enforce overly harsh punishments that don't address the systemic causes of the issue and go against American values.

Among former President Donald Trump's proposals are mass deportations of immigrants living in the U.S. without legal permission and an end to birthright citizenship. Vice President Kamala Harris has said she would continue to push for a bipartisan border bill that would increase immigration restrictions while also building up resources for legal immigration pathways.

Here's a brief look at where the two major candidates stand on the issue.

Kamala Harris

Harris has called for reforming what she's said is a "broken" immigration system, including calls for creating a pathway to citizenship, while also defending what the Biden administration has done on the issue -- specifically her role in aiming to address the root causes of migration from Central America.

She said as president, she would advocate for the bipartisan border bill that stalled in Congress due to Republican opposition. She said she would work to make sure the legislation lands on her desk, as it is currently stalled in Congress, and pledged to sign it.

The bill would have increased immigration restrictions, such as tightening asylum rules, and allowed for partial border shutdowns if crossings rose above a certain threshold. It would have also beefed up resources for immigration review, including funding to hire more judges, and to combat drug trafficking.

Donald Trump

Trump said he plans to reinstate and expand the immigration policies of his first presidential term, including finishing the U.S.-Mexico border wall as well as reviving the "Remain in Mexico" and asylum restrictions as he promises to "carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American History." To carry out his threat to deport millions of migrants living in the U.S. without legal permission, he's suggested he would use local law enforcement and the National Guard to possibly build detention camps on U.S. soil.

Trump has also promised to sign an executive order to end birthright citizenship for "illegal aliens" on the first day of his new term, which would almost certainly face significant legal hurdles as birthright citizenship is enshrined in the 14th Amendment.

In ramping up his anti-immigrant rhetoric, Trump claimed those crossing the border are overwhelmingly criminals from "prisons" or "mental institutions."

Trump focused heavily on immigration during his first presidential campaign, including building the border wall with what he claimed would be Mexican money, though his failure to do so has become an attack line from his primary rivals.

ABC News' Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Libby Cathey, Abby Cruz, Hannah Demissie, Fritz Farrow, Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim, Nicholas Kerr, Will McDuffie, Kendall Ross and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.