The Spectacular Failure of the Immigration Populists
What Trump ill-advisedly called a “Muslim ban” went through several iterations until its third draft finally survived judicial scrutiny—and only then by including at least one non-Muslim majority nation—in June of 2018. It was intended as a sop to the president’s base, but it ended up dominating the immigration agenda for almost 18 months, only to be replaced by another immigration-related debacle.
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In April of 2018, American political observers were aghast to learn that the Department of Health and Human Services lost track of nearly 1,500 migrant children who were separated from their parents or were apprehended alone.
But rather than emphasize the intractable nature of their conundrum, the administration’s immigration skeptics took full ownership of family separation as a means of deterring future illegal immigration. Only when Congressional Republicans, including border hawks, forced the president into a corner did the White House abandon this illogical and politically disastrous policy. But even then, the populist wing insisted that family separation was a winner.
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Trump added that “we should get rid of judges” because “we can’t have a court case every time somebody steps their foot on our ground.” Indeed, we can and we must because the Constitution applies not just to American citizens in America but Americans abroad and non-citizens on U.S. soil. Even if the public could be persuaded to believe that the Constitution was the chief obstacle to sensible immigration policy, it’s unclear they’re listening to the president who cried “border crisis.”
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The populist wing of the anti-immigration right seems to think that their policies would work if they only had better managers. But to hear border hawks like Anne Coulter tell it, the Trump administration has never been fully committed to the project. In the end, Trumpism will not have failed because real Trumpism had never been tried.
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/...tacular-failure-of-the-immigration-populists/
What Trump ill-advisedly called a “Muslim ban” went through several iterations until its third draft finally survived judicial scrutiny—and only then by including at least one non-Muslim majority nation—in June of 2018. It was intended as a sop to the president’s base, but it ended up dominating the immigration agenda for almost 18 months, only to be replaced by another immigration-related debacle.
...
In April of 2018, American political observers were aghast to learn that the Department of Health and Human Services lost track of nearly 1,500 migrant children who were separated from their parents or were apprehended alone.
But rather than emphasize the intractable nature of their conundrum, the administration’s immigration skeptics took full ownership of family separation as a means of deterring future illegal immigration. Only when Congressional Republicans, including border hawks, forced the president into a corner did the White House abandon this illogical and politically disastrous policy. But even then, the populist wing insisted that family separation was a winner.
...
Trump added that “we should get rid of judges” because “we can’t have a court case every time somebody steps their foot on our ground.” Indeed, we can and we must because the Constitution applies not just to American citizens in America but Americans abroad and non-citizens on U.S. soil. Even if the public could be persuaded to believe that the Constitution was the chief obstacle to sensible immigration policy, it’s unclear they’re listening to the president who cried “border crisis.”
...
The populist wing of the anti-immigration right seems to think that their policies would work if they only had better managers. But to hear border hawks like Anne Coulter tell it, the Trump administration has never been fully committed to the project. In the end, Trumpism will not have failed because real Trumpism had never been tried.
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/...tacular-failure-of-the-immigration-populists/
