Is Immigration Really the Hill Democrats Want to Die On?

“Trump is doing exactly what he said he would with immigration, and those views seem to have a lot of support, which makes his actions fundamentally democratic.” — Tangle Editor Will Kaback

And the numbers back Will Kaback up. A June 2024 Gallup poll found that the percentage of Americans who want lower immigration levels has jumped 27 points since 2020. Across all political parties, sentiment has shifted toward reducing immigration, and a recent Axios/Ipsos poll found that 66% of Americans support deporting all unauthorized immigrants—though support drops when asked about the logistics.

This isn’t just a policy debate. Before the election, poll after poll showed immigration as a top voter concern, with broad dissatisfaction over how Democrats handled it. Whether or not Trump’s win qualifies as a “mandate,” his stance on immigration played a massive role in his victory—and he’s following through on his campaign promises.

Meanwhile, the system is collapsing. Border encounters have skyrocketed in recent years. Border Patrol is understaffed, and the immigration court backlog has ballooned to nearly 4 million cases—doubling in the past decade. Now President Trump is firing immigration judges and using military on the border. The system isn’t just broken; it’s grinding to a halt.

The Hard Truth: The Rule of Law

Before we dive into moral arguments about Dreamers, family separations, or who’s going to pick the grapes, let’s establish a basic principle:

Do you believe in the Rule of Law? Yes or no.

If your answer is “no,” then you support anarchy and have excluded yourself from this discussion. Please, read no further.

If your answer is “yes,” then we have to acknowledge a fact: entering and staying in the U.S. without authorization is illegal. And for most Americans, that matters—not because they lack compassion, but because it violates their sense of sovereignty. Millions of people forcing their way in, rather than being invited through a legal, democratic process, feels like an affront to national identity. And at the very least, it’s reasonable to say: if you’re here illegally, you should leave.

The Family Question

What about their children? Do the “sins of the father” extend to them?

Trump may claim otherwise, but if you’re born here, you’re a U.S. citizen. That’s settled law. But that citizenship doesn’t extend to the parents. So we’re left with an uncomfortable dilemma: what sense does it make for a child to stay if their parents must go? It’s a messy, tragic situation, but logic dictates one outcome: to keep families intact, they all leave together.

The Economic Argument: A Distraction

Yes, America needs immigrant labor. Many illegal immigrants perform jobs that Americans don’t want, and their contributions to the economy are significant.

But here’s the thing: that has nothing to do with their legal status. We can still have guest worker programs, with proper restrictions and protections, while enforcing immigration laws. This isn’t uncharted territory—we’ve done it before.

The Bracero Program (1942–1964) allowed Mexican workers to be legally employed in the U.S. on a temporary basis—mostly in agriculture. It worked then, and it could work again. Many migrants don’t even want to stay permanently; they want to work, earn to send or bring back home, and return safely.

A Missing Link: E-Verify

This online system already exists for federal jobs and some states, but it needs to be nationwide, as Nikki Haley proposed during her campaign. It requires every employer to verify a workers’ legal status and it would eliminate the incentive for illegal employment. No registration, no job. If done correctly, it protects workers and should make it impossible to work unless you are part of the temporary immigrant worker program. It also would be an easy way to keep track of temporary workers.

Again, this isn’t new territory. Senator John McCain’s Border Security Bill passed the Senate by 68-32 in 2013 but the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, refused to bring it up for a vote. McCain’s bill was bi-partisan; it included E-Verify and a lot more. This whole crisis might have been avoided.

The Bottom Line

If we had a legal system for the foreign labor we need and their economic impact remained intact, what legitimate reason is left for allowing illegal immigration?

Some say compassion. Maybe. But the hard truth is most illegal migrants aren’t fleeing humanitarian crises—they’re seeking economic opportunities. An estimated 75% of migrants come for work, not asylum. They are economic refugees, not political ones. That’s understandable, but it’s not a valid reason to ignore immigration laws.

There are some 666 million people in Central and South America; we can’t take them all. Not to imply they all want to come, but metaphorically speaking, America is the “greener grass on the other side of the fence” for many people the world over. Or, at least it used to be.

Democrats had three presidencies—Clinton, Obama, and Biden—to fix this issue. They failed. Maybe they assumed illegal immigrants would support them out of gratitude once they could legally vote. But in reality, legal immigrants—who followed the rules—resent those who try to bypass the system. And they voted accordingly.

Unless Democrats find a real solution, this issue will keep costing them elections. Because, like it or not, America has spoken.