Merit-based migration and border security are key to fixing immigration crisis
When your bathtub is nearly full, it’s usually a sensible idea to turn down the spigot.
If only Congress and the White House can agree on that, we could have a historic deal in the next few weeks that secures legal status for minimally 800,000 “Dreamers” while securing the southern border and adopting more sensible policies to prevent further influxes of immigrants.
Of course, nothing in Washington is that simple in these days of intense partisan rancor and inconsistent Twitter diplomacy by the White House. Mention of “The Wall” has become anathema to the Democratic base, not helped by the administration’s often crude portrayal of it as a vast physical barrier that Mexico will fund. Hard-line Republicans are opposed to allowing the Dreamers to stay, despite polls showing that most Americans think they should be allowed to stay and the blatant injustice of deporting hundreds of thousands of long-term U.S. residents that only know the United States as their home.
Behind the rhetoric and bad blood, though, there is a pathway to an agreement by the time the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program expires on March 5 as long as moderates from both parties can come together and make a few compromises.
Read full article: https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/373646-merit-based-migration-and-border-security-are-key-to-fixing-immigration
