Mr. Trump’s offer has the benefit of testing Democratic sincerity. Democrats claim they won’t negotiate while 25% of the government is shut down, but why should Mr. Trump assume they’ll negotiate in good faith if he agrees to their budget terms? Speaker Nancy Pelosi has already said she won’t provide a penny for something called a wall.
Her refusal to negotiate even after Mr. Trump’s new offer suggests that she’s concerned that Mr. Trump might get some credit for a bipartisan immigration victory. Like restrictionist pundits, the left doesn’t want to solve the problem. They want immigration as a perpetual campaign issue and TV-rating fodder.
If the Dreamers are legalized on Mr. Trump’s watch, the President will have accomplished what Democrats didn’t. They helped to scuttle George W. Bush’s reform in 2007 when they controlled Congress. They did nothing on immigration when they controlled the entire government with a Senate supermajority in 2009. Barack Obama then resorted to illegal executive orders rather than negotiate with a House GOP majority.
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