The Democrats’ refusal to compromise on border security is handing a winning political issue to President Donald Trump, Sen. Mitt Romney told ABC’s Meet the Press.
The new Utah Senator said Sunday:
In my opinion, the Democrats are making a huge error by making border security an issue and saying it’s a partisan issue. Look, this is an American issue. We can’t have millions upon millions of people flooding into our country without a border that’s secure, without ICE making sure the people that are here illegally are sent back. This is, this is a winning issue I think for Republicans. But more importantly, it’s a winning issue for Americans to say, “We have to have the sovereignty of our nation.” I think the president has tapped into something which the people feel very deeply.
But Romney also suggested that he thinks the Democrats may cooperate with Trump’s proposed reform of asylum and migration laws.
I think what has to happen is an effort for Republicans and Democrats to come together, generally with presidential leadership. That’s what’s going to be essential to get us all — … [Trump] has the capacity to bring together the top Democrats, top Republicans and to sit down and say, “Okay, what can we do legislatively to make sure that we’re not creating this extraordinary asylum magnet that’s bringing people into the country?”
There is little or no evidence that Democrats and their allies in business want to reduce the inflow of cheap labor, new consumers, divisive diversity, and potential Democratic voters.
In fact, even the Washington Post admitted April 6 that “speeding up deportations and detaining families, rather than releasing them into the United States — a policy Trump derisively calls “catch-and-release” — have been at the top of the administration’s immigration agenda. But those proposals are non-starters for Democrats.”
However, some Democrats are warning that their hard-line support for migration may wreck their electoral support as perhaps one million migrants crowd across the border and into blue-collar Americans’ workplaces, neighborhoods, schools, welfare rolls, and police blotters.
“Trump isn’t aiming for a budget victory; his purpose is to keep the fight going in order to make illegal immigration a wedge issue in his 2020 reelection campaign,” warned left-winger Jeff Faux in an April 2 article in the Nation socialist magazine. Faux continued:
The goal will be to fix in voters’ minds not just that the Democrats are weak on crime (i.e., illegal immigration) but that they’re beholden to activists who champion “open borders.” And many will be receptive to this claim: A 2018 Quinnipiac poll found that voters thought the Democrats exploited the immigration issue for political gain more than Trump, by 60 to 53 percent.
Although Romney — who slammed Trump repeatedly during the 2016 election — says he recognizes border defense is a winning issue, he also stands with the establishment’s preference for more economic growth via more immigration.
Trump’s Hire American policy, however, is winning support from voters as it helps to raise wages by lowering the labor supply.
Romney’s proposed border deal would include an amnesty for prior waves of younger illegal aliens — but did not include any proposed reform to the nation’s chain-migration system, which rewards illegal aliens for bringing in children.
Romney also did not urge any reduction to the inflow of wage-lowering migrants. He said:
I would provide legal status for those [DACA illegals] Dreamers in the country. That’s something the president’s put on the table. I think we should get that job done. And hope we will get that job done. But overall, we need to complete the border fence. We need to have a system that keeps people from getting jobs here if they’re here illegally, and that’s an e-verify system. And then we’ve got to deal with this asylum issue that’s really overwhelming our system.
Romney’s endorsement of Trump’s support for border security comes after Romney voted March 14 against Trump’s use of a National Emergency declaration to get funds for building the border wall.
On Sunday, Romney explained his rhetorical turnabout in favor of Trump’s border policy, saying:
Well, we’ve seen a dramatic shift in the nature of immigration and illegal immigration just over the last few weeks. I mean, a number of years ago and up until just a few weeks ago, the great majority of people coming into our country were coming, looking for work … We don’t begin to have enough space in our facilities to maintain the kind of care that these people deserve. And so they’re being just turned out into our country, 125,000 of them so far this year. It’s overwhelming our system. We have got to be able to deal with this in a way. It’s going to take some legislation to get it fixed.
Each year, roughly four million young Americans join the workforce after graduating from high school or university.
But the federal government then imports roughly 1.1 million legal immigrants, refreshes a resident population of roughly 1.5 million white-collar guest workers plus roughly 500,000 blue-collar visa workers, and also tolerates about eight million illegal workers.
This federal policy of flooding the market with cheap white-collar graduates and blue-collar foreign labor is intended to boost economic growth for investors. This policy works by shifting enormous wealth from young employees towards older investors, even as it also widens wealth gaps, reduces high-tech investment, increases state and local tax burdens, hurts children’s schools and college education, pushes Americans away from high-tech careers, and sidelines millions of marginalized Americans, including many who are now struggling with fentanyl addictions.