Caravan isn’t an ‘invasion’

We will start with the stipulation that the caravan of thousands of refugees making its way through Mexico and heading to our southern border is something that rightly concerns many Americans. We are a large country, but we are also a nation of laws. And dealing with that many asylum-seekers at once will require special preparation—including troops.

But the caravan’s progress isn’t the only piece of this story that the nation is following. The other, and in many ways more pressing, element is the presidential-level response to the red-hot issue of immigration this election season.

What President Donald Trump is doing is turning up the heat on an issue that can only be resolved when cooler heads have the space to operate, the space to offer solutions to particular parts of the issue.

In specific terms, the president is turning to the kind of rhetoric that can only inflame this debate as we approach Election Day. By using such terms as “invasion” and otherwise using his bully pulpit to lead Americans to believe there is a budding military crisis on our southern border, the president is riling up Americans rather than leading toward solutions. In that respect, he is abdicating his responsibility to guide this country through its toughest challenges.

Add to this another key data point: Last week the president raised again questions about birthright citizenship. The problem is that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution gave us birthright citizenship for a key reason. Without it, over time we would devolve into a country with second-class citizens. People who were born in this country and fully immersed in everything that entails being an American would have fewer rights.

In any case, whether one favors it or not changing birthright citizenship would almost certainly require amending the Constitution. If the president ends up issuing an executive order aimed at eroding citizenship for those born on American soil, he will engender a protracted and bitter legal fight that would further divide this country.

There is a better way forward. And that would involve leaders in both parties offering real solutions that can address our immigration challenges without stoking our differences.

Meanwhile, in this time of heartbreaking violence and fierce political divides, the president has a special responsibility to use his pulpit to unite Americans. That is the special task of the president of the United States.