Washington, DC — As we have been highlighting and is clear in the news cycle today, Donald Trump and Republicans prefer immigration and the border as a political issue to run on, rather than an issue to be fixed. Above all, they want a perpetual “crisis” to exploit politically and an unresolved issue for Trump and MAGA Republicans to run on in 2024 – even above enacting a border and immigration deal heavily tilted to nativist priorities.
As one “senior GOP aide” told Politico “Playbook”:
“It’s very clear that a large group of Republicans in the Senate and the House no longer want to do border security. … Trump wouldn’t have his issue to run on. That’s what’s going on here: They don’t want to give up that issue.”
As Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice stated:
“Donald Trump knows the art of killing the deal, even a bad border and immigration package that would have given him a wish list of anti-immigration priorities. On immigration, help for border communities and U.S. cities, aid to Ukraine, the economy, and almost any other issue of importance to Americans, Republicans are saying they will not allow any action unless Trump is President. It’s the latest reminder of the chaos that surrounds all things Trump, the cynical political motivations on display, and Republicans’ preference to put the wishes of the MAGA movement ahead of the nation’s priorities.
On immigration, the Republican strategy is crystal clear: use immigrants as a scapegoat instead of delivering on policies that would improve the lives of working people. Without a scary non-white ‘Other’ to demagogue, their political appeals to fear and division fall apart. They are turbocharging and recycling the nativist political strategy that failed to deliver for the Trump-led Republicans in 2018, 2020, and 2022.
Of course, the failure of this legislative package only heightens the need for real immigration solutions that would provide new resources for the border to manage migration, while expanding legal pathways and legalizing the immigrant workforce already living and raising their families in the U.S. to strengthen and solidify our growing economy.”
