President Trump may have finally solved one half of America's immigration stalemate—and is now jeopardizing the political payoff by chasing the other half, argues Jason L. Riley in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. For decades, efforts at sweeping immigration reform collapsed over one question, he argues: What to do with the millions of people already in the US without legal status? Voters disliked illegal entry but also recoiled at the idea of mass expulsions of longtime residents. Trump sidestepped the impasse by focusing first on border enforcement—effectively so. "Control of the border arguably has been the most significant accomplishment of Mr. Trump's second term," writes Riley.
Illegal crossings at the southern border are at levels not seen in more than half a century, easing pressure on border communities and undercutting the mass-migrant surges that defined the Biden years. But instead of banking that win, the administration is now pushing aggressively into interior enforcement—and running into political trouble. "Chaos on the border has been replaced with chaos in Minneapolis," Riley writes, and while he dives into the drivers and issues particular to that city, he comes back to a larger one: "mass deportations remain unpopular with most Americans," and don't address voters' current top concern, which is the cost of living. Trump should declare victory and move on—or his party will suffer in the midterms. Read the full op-ed here.
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