Trump could deliver immigration reform
Could Donald Trump be the President who brings lawful status to millions of undocumented immigrants? Stranger things have happened. Who would have thought that Trump and the Democrats would agree so quickly on a budget extension and on raising the debt ceiling, as happened last week? Or that Trump, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — who knows more about immigration policy than anyone in Congress — and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi would be playing kissy kissy?
Does that mean a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants suddenly has a chance? It’s a long shot, but if Nixon could go to China, Trump could just be the President to combine increased border and interior immigration enforcement with a generous legalization program for undocumented immigrants who are otherwise law-abiding.
We can find an outline for an immigration compromise in the comprehensive reform passed by the Senate in 2013. The bill got through the Senate, 68 to 32, with 13 Republicans voting yes. It would have passed the House and become law if the Republican leadership had been willing to bring it up for a vote.
The landscape is more favorable to reform now. Unemployment is low and the economy is growing; middle-class wages just hit an all-time high, according to the census. The agricultural, construction and hospitality industries are struggling to fill job openings. Even Trump’s Mar a-Lago resort relies on foreign labor.
America needs immigrants. Most Americans see relief for undocumented immigrants, especially those who pay their taxes and work hard, as just and humane.
And while the 2013 legislation is now cheaply characterized as an amnesty bill because of the (long and winding) path to citizenship it offered undocumented immigrants, an honest look reveals many provisions that could attract Trump and his supporters.
Billions of dollars were allocated for new Border Patrol agents. More than a billion more was targeted for funding for a doublelayer fence along parts of our southern border.
The law would have required employers to use a national database to verify work authorization for new hires — tightening rules prohibiting hiring of undocumented workers. And it would have increased penalties for immigrants who committed crimes.
For undocumented immigrants, the bill provided provisional immigrant status for those without criminal records who paid a fine and filing fee. After 10 years, the provisional immigrants would be able to apply for permanent residence, and eventually U.S. citizenship.
Enacting a similar bill now would mean Trump could get his “wall,” at least a version of it, and undocumented immigrants would get to come out of the shadows, work on the books, increase tax payments and give a needed boost to the Social Security Trust Funds.
We can actually get there — even with a President who has been as hostile to immigrants as any in recent memory.
To lay the groundwork, Congress should first pass a clean Dream Act providing permanent legal status for the young people here under the Obama Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. By “clean,” I mean it should not include restrictions or punishment for other immigrants.
Dreamers, 800,000 strong, came here before age 16. Since President Barack Obama began the DACA program in 2012, tens of thousands have graduated college and are working as teachers and in health care and other professions. Trump ordered the program to end as of March 5, encouraging Congress to provide relief for the Dreamers.
If and when the Dream Act passes, we’ll see how America reacts. Of course, hard-line anti-immigrant voices will howl. But support from the religious, business and education communities will drown out that howl.
Once the Republican Party sees that taking this step forward hasn’t caused the sky to fall, it may be open to broader reform.
I have long held that Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric was more about winning the presidency than punishing people.
Two of his three wives are immigrants. His routine use of foreign labor at his properties surely has taught him the valuable contribution immigrants make to our economy.
If I’m right that Trump has no deep-seated animus toward immigrants, a path to citizenship for our 11 million undocumented immigrants, once thought impossible under his presidency, could become reality. Wouldn’t that be grand?