GOP front-runner Donald Trump is doubling down on his stance against illegal immigration with a
proposal that calls to “make America great again.”
Trump’s policy centers on three core
principles: building a wall at the Mexican border; increasing enforcement measures such as mandatory deportation of “all criminal aliens” and ending birthright citizenship; and prioritizing American workers through measures including restricted legal immigration.
“Mexico’s leaders have been taking advantage of the United States by using illegal immigration to export the crime and poverty in their own country,” while illegal workers send millions back to the country in remittances, the plan states. “In short, the Mexican government has taken the United States to the cleaners. They are responsible for this problem, and they must help pay to clean it up.”
Trump detailed this and other proposals in an immigration policy position paper released on
Monday. The paper includes a call to tighten the political asylum standards and to divert money to what he called a “refugee program for American children” in poor and unsafe neighborhoods.
Trump’s platform is essentially an attempt to turn back the clock on illegal immigration.
He hopes to do what leaders should have done years ago to make it more difficult for illegals to remain in the country.
In his proposal, Trump notes that a true nation must have its borders and its laws enforced.
He acknowledges the reprehensible record of federal law enforcement agencies releasing
tens of thousands of criminal illegal aliens back into America under the
Obama administration.
He also points out that the lack of a credible visa tracking system is intolerable; a large percentage of our illegal aliens are people who came here legally but overstayed their visas.
While Trump’s rhetoric may be harsh, he was spot-on in reminding the American public that the Mexican government encourages its citizens to enter the United States illegally.
Trump’s new immigration proposals are almost all sensible (though I doubt whether trying to force Mexico to pay for a fence will get far, or ending birthright citizenship by a constitutional amendment), and each one is approved by a majority of the American people.
The Washington Examiner reports new
research by
Douglas J. Ahler and
David E. Broockman that shows much of the American public – not just the Republican side – is on board with an approach to immigration similar to Trump's.
Trump has managed to reshape the 2016 immigration debate in ways that many Republicans could not have predicted.
He has also brought light to problems in the immigration system that needed to be addressed.
There are many points in his plan that this country could benefit from, and it would definitely make for a better immigration system than our current one.
Who else in the history of the GOP field has done the same?
Trump has done us all a favor by laying out a good set of common sense immigration proposals that should have been addressed years ago.
Most of all, Trump’s plan will now force the other Republican candidates into a corner: By framing the issue in terms of borders, laws, and national interest, Trump puts other Republican candidates into the uncomfortable position of either supporting or rejecting his plan.
Once again, Trump is setting the political agenda.
Now, we will have to wait to see which Republican candidates are willing to sign on to something similar.
Chris Markowski has carried the titles of author, investment banker, equity analyst, and consumer advocate. He is the personality behind Watchdog on Wall Street and founder of Markowski Investments.