Trump’s turnaround on immigration is welcome, but can we trust it?

For supporters of comprehensive immigration reform, President Donald Trump’s White House meeting with several congressional Democrats and Republicans Tuesday served as a remarkable moment in time, but can anyone trust that the president’s promise to “take the heat” and get it done?

Count us among those fully willing to give the immigration hardliner credit should he hold firm and see it through. When offered a friendly challenge from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to seek a path to citizenship for those already living in the country illegally, Trump responded: “If you want to take it that further step, I’ll take the heat. I will take all the heat. You are not that far away from comprehensive immigration reform.”

Yet call us skeptical. We worry we’ve been down this road before. Remember the Dreamers? The hundreds of thousands of young people who risked exposing themselves to federal scrutiny to take advantage of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals provisions? After Trump killed the Obamaera program early last fall, he appeared committed to seeing Congress pass legislation to preserve it, saying with typical fanfare that he had “great heart” for the Dreamers, only to later demand money for his border wall plans and other provisions that Democrats are unlikely to support.

Now that a federal judge has blocked the administration from letting DACA expire in March, and hardliners are calling the president a traitor for his responses to Graham and others, who knows what could happen?

Still, let’s not let the moment pass without at least a little hope for grand change. Many are noting the irony. Like the anti-communist Richard Nixon, who was able to open communication and diplomatic relations with China, Trump appears to be in good position to score wins for immigrants and hardliners alike. And certainly, saving DACA protections seems much more likely than only a week ago.

Finding common ground on all of the issues would be a big win indeed, as Trump acknowledged Tuesday. But the president suggested there should be a way, and that he wouldn’t nitpick agreements. “I’m not going to say, ‘Oh, gee, I want this, I want that,’ “he said of a compromise. “I’ll be signing it.”

This is good news. The unconscionably long stalemate on any kind of immigration reforms is bad for the country’s well-being, and Trump’s crackdown inhumane. Yes, we worry that solving those problems without a legitimate promise from conservatives to take up a path to citizenship for those already here illegally makes pursuing those reforms unlikely under Washington’s current power makeup.

Let’s hope lawmakers get a DACA deal for now. Perhaps in 2020 the politics will be more favorable to Graham’s challenge. — Denver Post, Digital First Media