Immigration: Extremism and Playing Politics Versus Finding Common Ground

We need immigration reform.  But what we don’t need is the demonization of other human beings made in the image of God whom God loves and Jesus died to save simply because they are from a different country or ethnic group or faith tradition.

Mr. Trump has said repeatedly that people from other countries are “poisoning the blood” of America.  Such words are those of Nazism and fascism. This unChristian extremism is tearing our country apart.  Mr. Trump continues to add fuel to this fire by falsely asserting that President Biden’s policies have led to “a bloodbath.”

In contrast to Mr. Trump’s efforts to stoke extremism for political gain, evangelical denominations, associations, and institutions — such as the Southern Baptist Convention, the National Association of Evangelicals, and the National Latino Evangelical Coalition — have come together and affirmed this set of principles to guide immigration policy. 

They are calling for a bipartisan solution that:

• Respects the God-given dignity of every person

• Protects the unity of the immediate family

• Respects the rule of law

• Guarantees secure national borders

• Ensures fairness to taxpayers

• Establishes a path toward legal status and/or citizenship for those who qualify and who wish to become permanent residents

President Biden is in agreement with these evangelical principles because he believes in the God-given dignity of every person is the foundation of our country. 

Trump is Sabotaging Our Chance for Bipartisan Immigration Reform

There is now a serious legislative proposal on immigration reform in the Senate in keeping with these evangelical principles and commended by the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). It gives Republicans the best deal they will probably ever get, as confirmed by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC):

“To those who think that if President Trump wins, which I hope he does, that we can get a better deal — you won’t. … So to my Republican colleagues, this is a historic moment to reform the border.”

But what has Mr. Trump done? He called Republican Senators telling them to oppose the deal and publicly trashed it because he doesn’t want to give President Biden a victory.  The result?  All but four Republican Senators voted against advancing the bill, including some who worked to create it.

MAGA Playing Politics Instead of Getting It Done

And what have MAGA Republicans in the House done? They’re playing politics with people’s lives and the wellbeing of our country.  Speaker Johnson, an acolyte of Mr. Trump who is in regular communication with him, has taken a Trumpian our-way-or-the-highway, all-or-nothing stance.  It has to be the MAGA extremist House immigration package or nothing, a faux package that doesn’t authorize funding for what it proposes and will never pass the Senate. 

But my-way-or-the-highway is not how democracy works.  That’s how authoritarian regimes work.

Here is what the behavior of Mr. Trump, Speaker Johnson, and most Senate Republicans tell us: they don’t want immigration reform.  They want to keep on using immigration for political purposes, which Trump acknowledges explicitly.  Mr. Trump wants to continue to poison the soul of America with his fear-mongering and his dangerous and dehumanizing comments about people from other countries who only want a better life for their families.

Biden Is Working Across the Aisle for Immigration Reform

President Biden, through his Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, put together the Senate immigration reform bill with Sen. Jim Lankford (R-OK), who, at the State of the Union, confirmed what President Biden said about the package.  

As acknowledged by Sen. Graham (R-SC), the Biden Administration has made major concessions.  Republicans will never get a better deal than what President Biden has offered. 

President Biden, a seasoned practitioner of our democratic system who understands that compromise is necessary to get things done for the good of the country, has now met the Republicans more than halfway.  He has done so not only to help heal our nation from the vile politics being played by Mr. Trump and MAGA extremists.  He’s also done so because Republicans have tied essential funding for Ukraine, who could lose the war with Russia without it, to immigration reform.  They are holding Ukraine hostage to get what they want.

Speaking about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on immigration reform, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said this: “You don’t knowingly make this country less safe for political points,” adding that it would be “immoral” to oppose the Mayorkas-Lankford package because of partisan politics.

When told he could be held responsible for the demise of the Mayorkas-Lankford deal, Trump doubled down: “Please blame it on me.  Please.”  For Mr. Trump, it’s all about him, and his toxic immigration politics is just a means to achieve reelection. 

But for President Biden, it’s all about us; it’s all about the well-being of our country.  To achieve that, he’s willing to go more than halfway to strike a deal.  As he said in his State of the Union: “We can fight about the border or we can fix it.  I’m ready to fix it.  Send me the border bill now!”

It is time to reject the dehumanizing politics of division and heal this long-festering wound in the body politic by resurrecting and passing the Mayorkas-Lankford immigration package.