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Republicans are to blame. Democrats are to blame. All are to blame, as for decades presidents, Congress and government bureaucrats have employed one Band-aid approach after another to try and fix the problem without any real comprehensive, sustainable effort that has a legitimate chance to succeed.

Obama became known as the king of deportations for the number that happened under his watch. Trump promised to build a wall to keep the illegal immigrants out, though that has not happened on the sort of scale he proposed. Congress, well who knows what a divided Congress wants to do?

Meanwhile millions of illegal immigrants live in fear of what may eventually happen to them, even as entire industries are built on having those same immigrants available to perform duties essential to the nations economy. On the one hand, in our public schools we educate children here illegally with their families to prepare them to be productive adults, while on the other we threaten to deport those same children with their families, and make any pathway to citizenship extremely difficult.

Controlling immigration was one of the bedrock issues of Trumps winning campaign four years ago but has little profile this year, having been pushed aside by a pandemic and national economic concerns and perhaps downplayed because it now is obvious there are no simple solutions to the problem, which is easier to address with heated rhetoric than workable policy.

On the core issues of the immigration debate, are we closer to a long-term solution than we were four years ago? It is hard to say that we are.

As a nation, we cant even agree on whether those in the country illegally should be counted in the Census that is done every 10 years. The Trump administration said not to do so, the courts said differently, and still the question of whether those who were counted will ultimately be included in the Census totals used for allocations of political representation are unresolved.

If they are not included, states like California and Texas, with high numbers of illegal residents, will lose congressional seats, while others will gain representation. Those same numbers will then filter down to state and local apportionment processes, so that communities with sizeable illegal populations will lose political clout, and the access to funding for government programs that goes with it. Gainesville certainly has something to lose in the Census number debate.

The full scope of the immigration problem is one that has plagued presidents of both parties for years, predating Trump, predating Obama. It is an issue that demands big-picture thinking and coalition building leadership, replete with human compassion and economic common sense. That sort of political leadership has sadly been lacking at the top levels of government for a long time.

Immigration reform is not at the forefront of this years presidential campaign, nor should it be until we have found a way to get the pandemic under control and the economy on the right path. But the need for action is still very much there.

And it doesnt matter who built the cages, as long as they are never used for the same purpose again.

Read the rest here:
Opinion: We still need immigration solutions - Gainesville Times