Immigration compromise is a win for Dreamers and Trump

Last week, President Trump offered to provide a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million Dreamers. Though the president clings to a demand that Congress provide $25 billion for a border wall, his new DACA stance demonstrates  a remarkable change of heart, one worthy of commendation.

When President Trump stood before both chambers of Congress in his first State of the Union, he reiterated his desire for a bipartisan compromise, “to work with both parties to protect our citizens of every color, religion, and creed.” But then he diminished the possibility by conflating national security issues with legal, family-based migration and other initiatives used to bring diversity to the American melting pot.

{mosads}There are two facts this administration must face. First, a border wall is incredibly unpopular. (A recent poll by Pew shows 62 percent of Americans are opposed to it.) Second, a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers is incredibly popular. (In fact, a poll by ABC News shows 86 percent of Americans want DACA recipients to stay.) These realities suggest that American citizens are not nearly as divided on immigration reform as our leaders in Congress. 

The same night the White House released their immigration plan, I had the honor of hosting Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico. He had a simple message for President Trump: Walls don’t work. Walls have never worked. From the Great Wall of China to the Berlin Wall, walls have never kept people out. Instead, they isolate the people that live within them. 

We Americans are leaders of the free world, and we will not be walled in. We are open to new people and new ideas. We are at an economic advantage because we have a diverse population within our borders and because we have connections to the world around us. To quote President Trump himself in Davos, “America is open for business.” 

The fact of the matter is that border security is a complex issue, and a border wall is a Band-Aid solution. Every inch of the border has its own unique challenges. Just ask my fellow ranchers down in Texas. A 30-foot border wall is useless next to the Santa Elena canyon, which runs at 1,500 feet deep. Plus, 95 percent of the Lone Star State is privately owned. To build a border wall, the federal government would have to seize territory from Texas landowners.  Have you ever tried to take land from an American cowboy, Mr. President? That’s not a fight you want to pick. 

Drop the border wall, President Trump. Stop conflating national security with “chain migration,” a program designed to legally keep families together, and “the visa lottery system,” a State Department initiative designed to bring diversity to the American workforce. Let’s put together an immigration reform plan that works. 

We should use that check for $25 billion to invest in better technology along the border. Let’s improve points of entry and provide additional resources to federal agents on the ground. When it comes to implementing actual public policy, we must leave the ideologues behind and work with the experts on the job who put their lives on the line every day in order to understand what they need. That is how you fix a broken immigration system. 

White House chief of staff John Kelly said that the president’s “thinking has evolved.” I think he’s right. President Trump delivered a message of unity and bipartisanship at the Capitol, which he described as a “living monument to the American people.” He further celebrated the economic gains of his young presidency and highlighted the lives of American heroes that embody the spirit of this great nation.

It would be unacceptable, however, to reach the March 5 deadline for DACA without a solution.

If the president truly believes that Dreamers are part of the fabric of our great American society, he needs to continue choosing intelligent policies with long-lasting benefits over dogmatic politics with short-term outcomes. The country is behind DREAMers, and they’re asking for a result. The Trump administration’s legacy as well as America’s economic and moral prosperity depend on it. 

Javier Palomarez (@JPalomarez) is president and chief executive officer of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (@USHCC), America’s largest Hispanic business association.