Immigration Crisis 2025

 

The politicization of immigration has reached near crisis level in our country. Several years ago I suggested a workable solution Immigration Reform, which I think would work, but just as was the case then (2018), nothing has been done to fix the laws. 

During President Trump's first term, it came to a head with a Border Wall Showdown.  After that, President Biden had an opportunity to leverage to the backlash against Trump's handling of the COVID pandemic as well as immigration and other issues. However, nothing was done but once again change the way and extent we enforced the laws rather than reforming the laws.

Now we have an emboldened Trump in the White House, knowing that he won't be eligible for re-election, not just stopping people from coming into the country without authorization but actively rooting out and deporting people using a very heavy-handed approach.  This has led to protests amid allegations of human rights abuses.

Republicans need to look in the mirror and ask themselves whether the ends justify the means.  This is about the heart of a party that has long relied on support of social conservatives who claim to value life as well as economic conservatives who want to ensure the economy is strong.  How is life valued when people who have built lives in this country are torn from their homes and uprooted from their communities just because they exploited a broken system in search of a better life?  How is the economy strengthened by deporting migrant workers who are doing jobs that nobody else is willing to do?

Democrats need to look in the mirror and ask themselves if ignoring the law for political gain has been worth it?  One of the biggest complaints being raised since Trump took office for a second time is that his executive orders are not legal. Would Trump even have been elected again if true immigration reform had been enacted, so that people coming into the country for political asylum or as migrant workers could do so legally with fewer restrictions?  Instead of saying that it's heartless to enforce the laws, perhaps the laws should have been changed.

Both parties need to come together and implement real reforms.  Voters need to hold them accountable to either participate in the solution or be replaced.  One of the problems with that approach is how the use of gerrymandering has reduced the number of districts with competitive elections.  Over a decade ago, I proposed a logical and relatively simple way to address Gerrymandering

Also, as I wrote in The impact of one Supreme Court decision on US Politics several years ago, the two party system is a natural outgrowth of our unique form of government and usually for the best. However, to help drive the parties to work together more and for candidates to align with their constituents more than their party, it could help to have ranked-choice-voting in elections, which could allow single districts to elect independent or third party candidates that could caucus with different parties in different situations and act as the swing votes depending on the issues.

The bottom line is that we all need to work together despite our differences, just as the founders had to figure out in order to gain our freedom and establish this nation.  When we work together, nothing can stop us.  When we allow our personal preferences get in the way of the greater good, we chip away at the foundation of our society.