Trump’s Dreamer Dealing The deportation lobby is a minority in the U.S. and the GOP.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-dreamer-dealing-1505431468
Anything can happen with Donald Trump, and it usually does, as some of his ardent followers are discovering to their shock as the President negotiates with Democratic leaders on immigration. Mr. Trump has been known to change his mind, and in this case that’s for the good as his bipartisan dealing to legalize young adult immigrants brought here as children is in the best interests of the country and his Presidency.
“Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military? Really!” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter Thursday morning. That excellent rhetorical question followed his dinner Wednesday night with Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, who announced afterward that they had a deal with Mr. Trump to legalize the Dreamers, as the young adults are known.
Mr. Trump has been less definitive, saying Thursday morning in Washington that he and the two Democrats were “fairly close” to an agreement that would also include “massive border security.” He said his wall at the Mexican border “will come later,” though later in Florida he said “we’ll only do it if we get extreme security, not only surveillance but everything that goes with surveillance. If there’s not a wall, we’re doing nothing.”
Who knows how this will turn out, but we hope Mr. Trump cuts that deal with the Democrats with few security strings attached. The benefits would be many.
Congress would codify in law a policy that Barack Obama imposed illegally by executive fiat. Mr. Trump would solve the most politically emotive immigration problem, which is the fate of these young adults who committed no crime in coming here. Some 700,000 people could keep contributing to American society without fear of deportation.
Mr. Trump would also notch a political success on immigration that eluded George W. Bush and Mr. Obama. He would show, as he promised in the campaign, that he can get things done. Not a bad day’s work.
As for the shouts of “betrayal” from Mr. Trump’s restrictionist fans, we hope someone has confiscated the sharp objects at the Breitbart townhouse. But what did they expect?
Their desire to deport the Dreamers to countries they left as children is a minority view in the United States, the Republican Party and even among conservatives. Mr. Trump adopted his anti-immigration positions during the campaign to win the GOP primary, not because they are lifelong beliefs. Mr. Trump’s core political conviction is winning, and the Dreamer deal will be popular.
Our guess is the Trumpians in the media will soon find a way to blame everyone else—especially the GOP “establishment”—for the President’s switcheroo. This is their political and commercial business model. They’ll be back cheering Mr. Trump soon enough. So go ahead and cut that deal, Mr. President, and include a path to citizenship too. After Neil Gorsuch’s nomination and deregulation, it would be the biggest achievement of your Presidency.
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