While both sides of the American political schism seem to be enjoying a rejuvenated political boxing match between the nation’s two presidential candidates, it’s critical that voters wrangle actual policy details from Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
In past elections, and so far in this presidential race, Trump has focused almost solely on a campaign of baseless threats, sound bites and rhetoric.
Kamala Harris has been in the shadow of the Biden Administration and needs to set the record straight on how a Harris Administration would differ from the one she works for now.
One place the two candidates differ greatly on has already been made clear, abortion rights.
American women are already being punished for Trump’s first term as president, having set the path for the Supreme Court ending national abortion right protections. But Trump has made crystal clear he would continue to undermine women’s right to healthcare and to ensure control of their own bodies. Harris, a longstanding champion of abortion rights, would be a veto safeguard against any congressional attempt to further drag American women back to a dismal past.
Unclear to voters, however, is how both candidates would handle the nation’s chronic immigration crisis.
Trump has said he would continue to try and build a wall or fence, which has repeatedly, and already, proven useless.
Whether congressional inaction or politics is to blame for the current immigration crisis, the Biden Administration has been unable so far to manage immigration as people enter the country, and after they get here.
While the pandemic somewhat slowed immigration into the United States, history is clear that without meaningful reform, the U.S. can expect a steady flow of immigrants finding their way into the United States. And with no coherent and effective immigration policy to truly limit and accommodate that, it would continue.
Both Trump and Harris must define in detail, not political rhetoric, how they would handle immigration at and far inside the border, with a cooperative congress or an adversarial one.
Ideally, Congress and the White House should work together to finally solve this problem, of which uncontrolled immigration is but a symptom: jobs. Endless U.S. industries and businesses depend on the cheap and plentiful labor that migrants provide. Until that issue is addressed, nothing can change.
• There are an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States, and their stories and circumstances are astoundingly varied. Officials estimate greater Aurora-Denver is home to about 130,000 undocumented immigrants, as many as 40,000 from Venezuela.
• Many undocumented immigrants are now settled and integrated into our communities. They have jobs. They own cars and homes. They make more than $60 billion a year from U.S. businesses. They have children in schools. They spend money in the community.
• Business groups and more than a few industries haven’t been shy in making it clear that these immigrants are critical to their operations. If they leave, who will fill their jobs? Many metro businesses can’t find employees even with illegal immigrants filling the work force. Removing these people from the workforce would be disastrous to the U.S. economy.
• Deporting illegal immigrants is far from a simple matter. Many families consist of citizens and non-citizens, many with varying degrees of legality. If the father of a family of six is deported, why force his American wife and perhaps three-of-six documented children to live here in anguished poverty and on the government dole, if they don’t leave the country with him? Tearing apart families will only lead to tragedy and increased government expense.
• The cost of rounding up, collecting from jails, housing, processing and deporting millions of immigrants would be astronomical. Even proponents admit that. The federal government has tried valiantly to boost its border control and ICE force before, only to find out how difficult, ineffective and expensive it is. And history makes clear this nation is incapable of a “humanely” deterring people.
The nation needs a system that heavily penalizes businesses that employee undocumented workers. It must be a system that allows immigrants to work here legally without having to be citizens. It must be a program that allows a path to citizenship for those who play by rules that make sense.
The answer isn’t deportment, it’s legal employment.
The only answer is comprehensive immigration reform that continues America’s lauded policy of open arms. It’s a policy that made it possible for almost everyone in the country to call it home, other than the Native Americans, who lived here before anyone else.
As the presidential election moves forward, both candidates need to tell voters how they’ll work with, or around, this set of facts. Voters need to demand answers and an end to empty rhetoric.
Democrats, as well as republicans, worked on a bill that would increase funding for help at the border,
and many other improvements. Two days before the bill was to be voted on, Trump told the republicans to vote NO. The reason? It would make President Biden look good. Our Vice President said she would sign the bill that Dems and Republicans agreed on immediately once in
office.
Not sure who is on the Sentinel Editorial Board but don’t think they could have written a more biased opinion article against Trump. On top of that, most, but not all, of the points they make are incorrect. It would be really nice if the Sentinel could stop giving their biased opinions and just write article with facts, and that would be facts from both sides. Your bias takes away all of your credibility.