Opinion - Biden hardened voters against illegal immigration — Trump can fix things

President Trump is moving at warp speed to close our borders and deport criminal aliens — signature campaign promises.

Most Americans, horrified by four years of seeing our borders overrun and illegal migrants with criminal records being allowed to remain in our country, are applauding the president’s moves. A just-published New York Times poll found that 87 percent of respondents support “deporting immigrants who are here illegally and have criminal records.” Some 63 percent favor “deporting immigrants who are here illegally and arrived over the last four years.” A surprising 55 percent back “deporting all immigrants who are here illegally.”

That will change. Americans are a soft-hearted people, and a nation of immigrants. Once the border chaos is brought under control, and the deportations of illegal immigrants gathers steam, there will be a story, or many stories, of some hard-working immigrant caught up in the net, who grabs the nation’s sympathy.

Someone like Carmen, a hairdresser I spoke to recently, who emigrated from Mexico to the U.S. more than two decades ago, works hard, pays taxes and, with her also-undocumented husband, has raised two children who are now in college. One wants to be a nurse; the other is studying business.

Carmen (not her real name) is afraid that their many years of hard work, and building their American dream, are in jeopardy. The incoming immigration authorities have made it clear that they are prioritizing criminals in their deportation push, but that anyone in the U.S. illegally is also fair game. She believes them.

Everyone knows a Carmen. And sympathy for her plight, stoked by the opposition media, will threaten to undermine Americans’ enthusiasm for Trump’s hardline approach to immigration.

Trump himself has shown sympathy toward people in a similar situation. He told Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” that he believes hard-working immigrants covered by former President Obama’s DACA proposal, many of whom have been in the country for a long time, should be allowed to stay. Most Americans agree.

This is where the Trump administration needs a solution — and there is an easy one. People like Carmen and her husband, who have been in the U.S. for an extended time should be allowed to apply for a green card, which would allow them to live and work in the U.S. legally. But they should also be prohibited from ever becoming citizens.

There has to be a penalty for not playing by the rules. Having been born in the U.S., their children are citizens. Carmen, on the other hand, can live with never earning that golden passport.

Such a solution would bring millions of similarly situated people out from the shadows. Those who do not already would pay their full taxes, sign up for health insurance (instead of swarming our emergency rooms), and serve in our military. They would have the freedom to move around the country, which would help improve our labor imbalances.

Today, they are stuck, fearful of alerting the authorities to their illegal status. That would be a win for them and for our country.

I say this is an “easy” solution, but we have seen that changes to immigration policy are never easy. Former President Joe Biden, in allowing some 8 million people to enter our nation illegally over four years, has hardened Americans against immigration.

We saw that change in sentiment play out just recently, when Congress passed the Laken Riley Act with considerable Democrat support. The bill, named after a Georgia student murdered by an illegal immigrant with a criminal record, requires the Department of Homeland Security to detain undocumented migrants if they have been arrested for or convicted of criminal offenses such as theft, burglary, assaulting law enforcement officers or causing death or “serious bodily injury of another person.”

Forty-six Democrats helped the bill pass the House; 12 Democratic senators voted in favor as well. Indeed, two Democratic senators, Ruben Gallego of Arizona and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, co-sponsored the Senate version. The Democrats’ willingness to give Trump such an important early legislative win is a testament not only to the popularity of the new president, but also to the nation’s changed attitudes toward illegal immigration.

Make no mistake: progressive Democrats will never agree to any limits on immigration, legal or illegal. The leftist Vox denounced what it called “Congress’ harsh new immigration bill.” Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and other uber-liberal senators voted against the measure. Some say the bill will deny the rights of criminals illegally in the U.S. It turns out the country is more concerned with Laken Riley’s rights — and rightly so.

Those Democrats are out of step. As even Vox admitted last fall, immigration became one of voters’ most critical issues during the campaign. Republicans and a record-high number of independents told pollsters that it was their top issue. Immigrants and their supporters can thank the Biden White House for angering the nation, by encouraging the inflow of illegals to get totally out of control.

Trump promised to bring order to our borders, and he has already made significant progress. Almost overnight, the flow of people crossing our southern border has slowed to a trickle. Tom Homan, Trump’s no-nonsense border czar, told Fox News that on Day 2 of the new administration, the number of people entering the U.S. without papers totaled 766, a dramatic reversal from the thousands allowed to cross the southern border each day under Biden.

In addition, Homan reported that in just 24 hours ICE had arrested over 308 “serious criminals,” including a child rapist and numerous murderers. Those people will be brought before a judge and likely deported. The country should cheer their removal.

For others, long-time residents like Carmen who have contributed to our economy and committed but one crime — illegal entry — the country will rally in support, guaranteed. Trump needs to fix this issue before it derails his immigration agenda.

Liz Peek is a former partner of major bracket Wall Street firm Wertheim and Company.

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