Once upon a time, there were Republican leaders who advocated for comprehensive immigration reform. Democrats aren’t sure they still exist.
“Weren’t we all here? We just saw what happened,” Sen. Chris Murphy said of the existence of any Republicans willing to negotiate on immigration. “We had a bill that had 20-plus Republican votes, and the minute Trump came out against it, it had four. So, like, no. Trump runs the party on the issue of immigration.”
Donald Trump has said the border was the issue that helped win him the election, even more than the economy. He’s called for mass deportations, the end to birthright citizenship, to increase legal immigration and also to help “Dreamers.” He also quashed the most conservative, bipartisan piece of border legislation negotiated in Congress in recent memory — in part because he didn’t want to give President Joe Biden a political win.