Serious Reform of Immigration and a Secure Border?

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A painful truth: neither the Senate nor the House wants to address America’s immigration mess. And that goes for both parties in Congress. Government has failed to deal with immigration, as it has failed with health care, infrastructure, and even abortion, though it at least managed to fumble that into the lap of the courts, Conrad Black points out in NRO.

Immigration a Shambles, Conrad Black Reminds Readers

… Democrats have tried to prevent Trump from dealing with any of it with this mendacious idiocy about collusion with Russia, and the nasty fantasy of removal from office by impeachment. Ultimately, the country will reward this president for getting the country’s government to function usefully, even as many regret that those elected to rule in difficult times are not always those that would be selected by typecasting studios.

Pelosi/Schumer–Robotic Collaborators

President Trump’s Tuesday evening’s address to the Nation might not have been worthy of an award by the Dmosthenian Literary Society, but it was “a preemptive knockout blow of the robotic tandem (Pelosi and Schumer) that followed,” opines Mr. Black.

The president was clear, factually unchallengeable, and credible, and Speaker Pelosi and Senator Schumer looked and sounded like a waxworks animated illustration of the embalmer’s art and her ventriloquist, the bearer of the broadest forehead since Pericles. The president spoke of a national-security, economic, and humanitarian crisis, and they spoke of the federal employees who are about to miss a paycheck.

Democrats Have Trump in a Corner?

After Tuesday night’s eight-minute speech by the president from the Oval Office, the satisfactory resolution of the impasse over the government shutdown is fairly obvious. The president cannot abandon the border-security issue now, and the Democrats think they have him in a corner. The Democrats entered into this contest for the public’s support believing that as soon as the first paycheck is skipped, the lackey national media will be in 24–7 interviews with the sick wives, children, and relatives of the 800,000 unpaid federal employees. Public opinion will heave, the Republican senators will collapse, and the president will be splendidly humiliated.

For decades, Democratic politicians have ignored the effective takeover of sections of many cities by illegal immigrants, and largely Republican employers have taken advantage of the ability to engage a work force beneath the minimum wage. It has been a convenience for some Democrats also: Every few months, for years, there has been some new revelation of Hollywood socialists exploiting migrant labor to mow their lawns and roll their tennis courts.

Democrat Hacks, Republican Country Club Fat Cats, Hollywood Hypocrites

This is a perfect Trump issue: The Democratic political hacks, Hollywood hypocrites, and Republican country-club fat cats have put their own interests ahead of the country’s, and now the United States has almost as many illegal residents as comprise the entire legitimate population of the Commonwealth of Australia.

As long as the administration offers something to mitigate the hardship of the unjustly furloughed or unpaid federal employees, the president can hold the Democrats’ (cloven) feet to the fire and finally get a serious reform of immigration, including a secure border. Drones and cameras can’t stop anyone from crossing a line with no obstacle on it.

Why Isn’t the Focus on Fixing the Rules on Asylum?

But as the editors at NRO maintain, a wall/fence isn’t a panacea. Should President Trump get all the wall/fence he wants, it will not only take years to build, but it also will not cover the entire border.

It would be more important to fix the rules around asylum and our handling of Central American families and minors so we aren’t so hamstrung.

Trump Encourages Minors to Apply for Asylum

In its little-noticed current offer to Democrats in Congress, the administration proposes measures to encourage Central American minors to apply for asylum in their home countries instead of showing up here after an incredibly dangerous journey.

Read more here.