Immigration policy has been a disaster for at least 40 years, under both Democratic and Republican presidents. The situation today at the southern border is perilous, indeed. But the border situation was chaotic (at best) under former President Trump. Annual encounters with those crossing illegally were up to nearly 1 million during his term. Trump achieved that level only through truly abhorrent policies, including family separation. As we now know, family separation had nothing to do with security or protecting children. It was implemented solely to deter immigrants from attempting to enter the U.S. Tragically, some children remain separated from their families even today. To argue that immigration enforcement under Trump was better than today is to argue only that it was less disastrous and far less himane. Trump has the opportunity to at least take a step forward with better immigration policy. In 2017, Democratic congressional leaders thought they and Trump had a bipartisan immigration plan. It included a long-term solution to “Dreamers” and border security. Trump caved to pressure from the far right and the deal fell apart. None of this is to say Trump alone failed in immigration or that Biden hasn’t failed. Rather, it is to say that Congress needs to lead on a comprehensive immigration policy that provides clarity for those immigrants already here, creates a pathway for those immigrants vital to the U.S. economy, consistently implements U.S. asylum laws and secures all our borders and entry points.
While I share much of your optimism for progress and hope there is a will for cooperation to move ahead there is the perpetual concern for bipartisan refusal to acknowledge the ongoing and growing federal deficit. You can reference the the big spending and terrible tax policies of the GOP in 2017-2018 and the Democratic lifeboat spending since- and before, but the net result that even if the two sides work together there seems to be little or no evidence for dealing honestly with a deficit that has risen to 123% of GDP with no signs of being able to bring that down. It's a serious problem requiring hard decisions of a combination of revenue increases and spending cuts. And apparently no constituency to force those decisions.
I agree. Federal spending needs to be restrained. A place to start (as Charles Lanes points out in the Washington Post) is to tie the lifeboat spending (bailouts) to structural reforms in the programs and shared sacrifices. Not only is the student debt forgiveness available to people with very high incomes (households up to $250,000), there is no incentive, much less a mandate, for higher education institutions to work on reducing costs.
Tom, Nice article, but in order to turn the corner, you have to see it coming. Unfortunately this administration does not see any corner up-ahead. This administration announced yesterday that they were going to tackle Homelessness. At the same time they open the southern boarder to thousands of future homeless people daily and claim the boarder is secure. It's the old line "if your in a hole, stop digging". Rick
Immigration policy has been a disaster for at least 40 years, under both Democratic and Republican presidents. The situation today at the southern border is perilous, indeed. But the border situation was chaotic (at best) under former President Trump. Annual encounters with those crossing illegally were up to nearly 1 million during his term. Trump achieved that level only through truly abhorrent policies, including family separation. As we now know, family separation had nothing to do with security or protecting children. It was implemented solely to deter immigrants from attempting to enter the U.S. Tragically, some children remain separated from their families even today. To argue that immigration enforcement under Trump was better than today is to argue only that it was less disastrous and far less himane. Trump has the opportunity to at least take a step forward with better immigration policy. In 2017, Democratic congressional leaders thought they and Trump had a bipartisan immigration plan. It included a long-term solution to “Dreamers” and border security. Trump caved to pressure from the far right and the deal fell apart. None of this is to say Trump alone failed in immigration or that Biden hasn’t failed. Rather, it is to say that Congress needs to lead on a comprehensive immigration policy that provides clarity for those immigrants already here, creates a pathway for those immigrants vital to the U.S. economy, consistently implements U.S. asylum laws and secures all our borders and entry points.
While I share much of your optimism for progress and hope there is a will for cooperation to move ahead there is the perpetual concern for bipartisan refusal to acknowledge the ongoing and growing federal deficit. You can reference the the big spending and terrible tax policies of the GOP in 2017-2018 and the Democratic lifeboat spending since- and before, but the net result that even if the two sides work together there seems to be little or no evidence for dealing honestly with a deficit that has risen to 123% of GDP with no signs of being able to bring that down. It's a serious problem requiring hard decisions of a combination of revenue increases and spending cuts. And apparently no constituency to force those decisions.
I agree. Federal spending needs to be restrained. A place to start (as Charles Lanes points out in the Washington Post) is to tie the lifeboat spending (bailouts) to structural reforms in the programs and shared sacrifices. Not only is the student debt forgiveness available to people with very high incomes (households up to $250,000), there is no incentive, much less a mandate, for higher education institutions to work on reducing costs.
Tom, Nice article, but in order to turn the corner, you have to see it coming. Unfortunately this administration does not see any corner up-ahead. This administration announced yesterday that they were going to tackle Homelessness. At the same time they open the southern boarder to thousands of future homeless people daily and claim the boarder is secure. It's the old line "if your in a hole, stop digging". Rick
Good proposal, good start
Thanks for the much needed optimism, Tom. So nice to hear a positive voice. Yours was enlightening and informative and hopeful. Cheers.
Thanks, Jerry. Happy holidays