Immigration Reform: What Comes Next?

Somewhat surprisingly, given the intense focus on immigration enforcement during the campaign, border security has received less attention in recent weeks, so caught up has the administration been in controversies surrounding the firing of James Comey and investigations into Russian collusion, as well as attempting to get the Obamacare replacement bill through Congress. Attempted border crossings are down, while deportations are up since Trump took office, but between Russia, health care, and the search for a new FBI director those announcements have largely come in under the radar.

Which is fine, as far as I’m concerned. The important thing is that results are being delivered, and fewer illegal immigrants are entering and staying in the country. It would be in Trump’s political interest for the average voter to be more aware of those facts, but at least behind the endless self-inflicted controversies of this White House, things are still being accomplished.

What members of Congress should be doing is watching the reports of greater border enforcement, with an eye toward how it will affect future attempts at large-scale immigration reform. The popular conservative mantra has long been to enforce current laws first, before tackling any kind of comprehensive reform—for good reason, as immigration law has for years been implemented laxly. But this argument also had the effect of passing the buck to the executive branch, which constitutionally is the agency in charge of enforcing laws duly passed by Congress. Conservatives thus had little reason to debate immigration reform beyond the border-security components until the country again elected a president willing to execute the law as written.

Time now seems to be running out on that particular excuse. The current U.S. immigration system urgently needs reform, beyond simply an increase in border security and deportations—reform that can only be achieved by an act of Congress. Such reform need not equate to amnesty, the automatic assumption of many on both the Left and Right. But, one way or another, some solution must be found for illegal immigrants currently in the United States, in addition to deportation, because it is simply impossible for the federal government to find and deport every single one of the over 10 million people here without permission. And the system for admitting newcomers into the country legally must also be overhauled and modernized.

The excuse for waiting for border security before acting on these other pressing issues has almost expired. Congressional Republicans would do well to begin formulating plans for what to do when the ball is back in their court.