Comprehensive immigration reform is dead. Your administration should see it gets a decent burial. Instead of a futile search for comprehensive reform, you should launch an offensive to broaden the terms with which immigration is discussed.
The next president should use his or her authority and leadership to reset the debate by de-escalating the inflamed national discourse on this subject and ratcheting down the stakes on immigration policy, with the ultimate goal of passing substantive and durable reform.
Nearly every new president of the modern era has viewed the nation’s immigration policies as deeply flawed. Yet few of these modern executives have been willing to make immigration reform—one of the most dangerous issues in American politics—central to their agenda. Even fewer have had a measure of success doing so.
