As immigration and border security continue to remain hot topics, candidates in Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District—that’s Dauphin County, and parts of Cumberland and York counties—offer different approaches to enforcement and the federal government’s current immigration system.
Democratic challenger Janelle Stelson said the country needs both secure borders and tougher enforcement against violent criminals while also having greater accountability for federal immigration officers. Her approach puts her slightly at odds with Republican incumbent Scott Perry over enforcement tactics and oversight, even as both candidates support stronger border security. Perry’s record emphasizes harsher enforcement, more deportations, and more money being spent on immigration enforcement.
Stelson: Secure the border, protect due process
Stelson believes that the country’s immigration system is broken and that both major political parties—including her own—have failed to address the problem properly.
“I oppose open borders because it is unacceptable to allow criminals and life-stealing drugs across the border,” Stelson said in her published immigration policy statement on the website Local Candidates.
“I support deporting every violent illegal immigrant and oppose taxpayer benefits for anyone in the country illegally,” she said on her campaign website. “We have a broken immigration system, and both parties have botched the crisis for years.”
Her immigration proposal includes properly funding border security, investing in technology, and improving oversight of federal immigration enforcement. Stelson specifically calls for funding the latest border technology to help prevent drug trafficking and thinks the government should address gaps in border surveillance.
“We need to properly fund a secure border…to make sure drug dealers are not slipping through the cracks,” she said.
Stelson also said that deportation efforts should prioritize people who have committed violent crimes. During a recent televised debate, she said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has gone too far and more needs to be done to protect due process.
Her platform spells out several proposed safeguards: independent investigations into every killing involving ICE agents, uniforms and badges identifying federal officers, and a prohibition on agents wearing masks. “Due process and our laws must be followed,” she said. “Deportations should focus on those who have committed violent crimes, and that is clearly not what is happening right now.”
Stelson has also supported a pathway to citizenship for some immigrants without legal status. In a 2024 campaign statement reproduced in an October York Daily Record fact-check, she said, “We need to ensure a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and those who have been here paying taxes for decades.” The same statement supported additional border personnel, faster asylum processing, and returning people whose claims are found invalid to their home countries.
Perry: Border security and expanded enforcement
Perry’s immigration platform and track record focuses on securing the border, deporting people, and providing additional resources to border patrol agents.
In his published policy statement on Local Candidates, Perry said the Biden administration’s border policies created a national security threat. He also supported banning sanctuary cities.
Editor’s note: Sanctuary policies do not shield individuals from being prosecuted under local or state criminal laws, and many cities allow cooperation with federal authorities if a person is convicted of a serious or violent felony.
On his congressional website, Perry describes border security as a prerequisite for broader immigration changes. “The first step in the immigration reform process must be to secure our borders, period,” he says. “Significant progress must be made on this issue before we take any further steps.”
While in Congress, Perry has continually supported efforts to increase border security and invest more money in immigration enforcement efforts. He voted in favor of the Secure the Border Act of 2023, the Border Security for America Act, the Follow Immigration Law Act, and the Enforce the Law for Sanctuary Cities Act.
Those proposals went beyond adding personnel or surveillance equipment. The Secure the Border Act, which passed the House but did not become law, would have restricted asylum eligibility, expanded expedited removal and required detention of many asylum seekers. It also would have overridden protections under the Flores settlement governing the detention and release of migrant children, according to the Congressional Research Service’s summary.
Perry’s own 2015 legislation, H.R. 3391, would have allowed governors to withhold federal financial assistance from local governments they determined had not complied with immigration laws. The bill did not become law.
During the October debate, Perry defended federal immigration officers. “I stand shoulder to shoulder with law enforcement, border patrol, and ICE,” he said, according to FOX43.
Perry voted for more money spent on detention, and less on food and health assistance for Pennsylvanians
Perry also voted in favor of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which gave approximately $170 billion to immigration enforcement, including expanded detention and border wall funding.
The same law imposed restrictions on health coverage and food assistance that affect Perry’s constituents. Pennsylvania officials project that 18,720 residents of the 10th District will lose Medicaid coverage as its requirements take effect, part of an estimated 310,000 statewide.
Hunger is already rising among Pennsylvanians. By July 2026, Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services estimated that roughly 98,000 residents statewide had lost Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits because of the law’s new requirements, according to Pennsylvania Capital-Star reporting. These aren’t cuts for people in the country illegally—undocumented immigrants were already ineligible to enroll in federally funded Medicaid and CHIP.
When asked during the October debate what he would tell constituents likely to lose coverage, Perry said, “We want to give the money directly to them instead of the insurance company, that is my message.” He did not explain how residents losing Medicaid eligibility would get new coverage, nor did he explain what he meant by giving money directly to residents. A fact check by Keystone Newsroom found that there are no programs being proposed that would legally provide money directly to individuals who lost health insurance due to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Stelson criticized the same vote. “Only one of us voted for a bill that is threatening struggling hospitals. Only one of us voted to take healthcare away from people who live here and need it,” she said during the debate.
Detention expansion brings documented waste
The detention expansion Perry helped fund has also drawn criticism from Congress’s nonpartisan watchdog. In a September report, the Government Accountability Office found that ICE pursued new detention initiatives without a comprehensive strategic plan, resulting in wasted money and risks of further losses.
Among the documented losses were approximately $20 million in unrecoverable purchase-related costs, utilities, security and other services for seven warehouses ICE planned to sell without ever having housed detainees.
