Whoever coined the phrase “never let a good crisis go to waste” made sense. It means taking the opportunity to solve problems that would be too politically difficult to untangle under normal circumstances.
But former President Donald Trump and his drones in the personality cult that used to be the Republican Party have a different take on what it means for the crisis at the Southern border and for the failure of U.S. immigration policy in general.
They don’t want to solve that crisis. Anything but. They aim to postpone it — again — to help him win the presidency again in November.
He boasts of plans to cage millions of migrants and undocumented people in concentration camps until they can be forcibly deported. If he could pull it off, it would inflict catastrophe on the hospitality, agriculture and construction industries, especially in Florida, along with incalculable hardship to human beings who came here simply looking for better lives.
But demagoguing on immigration worked for Trump in 2016, so he’s at it again. It’s sickening to see that he appears to have more influence in Congress than the legitimate president has.
A malignant ego
Voters need to see through this. It is impossible to imagine anything more cynical, immoral, irresponsible and destructive than for him to be sacrificing the public interest to his malignant ego on an issue like this.
There is, or was, a consensus to do something meaningful on immigration now. The scene at the border, and the near-paralysis of immigration law, seems to meet everyone’s definition of a crisis.
Even Joe Biden’s. The president who took office vowing humanitarian reforms is now willing to accept things he would have once vetoed.
“If that bill were the law today,” he has said, “I’d shut down the border right now and fix it quickly.”
He was speaking of compromise legislation that looked for a time as if Congress would pass it. But it now looks as if Congress won’t. In fact, it appears Congress won’t do anything except surrender to Trump’s subversive strategy — the worst reason of all.
Censured at home
Sen. James Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma, is part of a bipartisan group negotiating for a plausible border deal, as assigned by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. His home state Republican Party has formally censured him for that.
The resolution accused him of “playing fast and loose” with the Democrats and demanded he “cease and desist jeopardizing the security and liberty” of Americans.
Lankford was doing exactly what members of Congress are supposed to do. In fact, he was attempting to do what Republicans themselves had demanded be done before they vote more money to aid Israel, save Ukraine from Russia’s new Stalin and put more money into border enforcement.
“It’s interesting,” he said on Fox News Sunday. “A few months later, when we’re finally getting to the end, they’re like, ‘Oh, just kidding.’”
It’s about the election, he acknowledged.
Who’s fast and loose?
If anyone is playing fast and loose, it’s Trump, his toadies and other cheap politicians who would rather exploit the border crisis than relieve it.
They include Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who is defying the rule of law by barring Homeland Security agents from a critical sector of the border, where the Supreme Court has ruled against his fencing.
They also include Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has dropped millions of dollars on enticing migrants to be flown and bused from Florida to northern liberal destinations, and who says he’s sending more National Guard and Florida State Guard members to help Abbott defy the federal government.
Florida’s dollars would be better spent contributing in some way to help reduce the enormous backlog of asylum and other immigration cases awaiting adjudication in Florida. That amounts to more than 481,000 cases, more than in any other state.
Utter dereliction
The national backlog has grown to more than 3 million cases, many of which were pending while Trump was president.
A sensible immigration compromise should begin with appropriating sufficient money to hire enough judges and agents to shrink the backlog. It must include repatriating more people who appear at the border without clear evidence that they are eligible for asylum. It means allowing entry only at authorized points and sending others back. It means cracking down harder on the exploitation of unaccompanied minors whose parents send them in the confidence that the U.S. won’t send them back.
It means establishing a practical guest worker program that allows people to come and go with a minimum of hassle and red tape.
The most critical element is efficient, competent, fair and prompt adjudication in the courts. That means money and people. There is no alternative. To let it wait for Trump’s sake, or Abbott’s, or DeSantis’, would be utter dereliction of duty on the part of Congress.
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writer Martin Dyckman and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.