Build a Bigger Table

I value undocumented immigrants and refugees as hard-working neighbors who make strong economic and cultural contributions to our country. When it comes to solving our immigration problems, the only thing more urgent than immigration reform is repairing the damage done by Trump’s second term policies.

Repairs

• Most of the undocumented immigrants being detained and deported by ICE have no criminal record. Their only legal violation is their undocumented status (a civil violation). Stop mass deportation of law-abiding undocumented immigrants and refugees. Resume our government’s decades long practice of only deporting long-term undocumented immigrants who have committed serious crimes.

• President Trump is not allowing undocumented immigrants to request asylum at our borders and have their claims tested in court, as our asylum law requires. He is also detaining and deporting immigrants who are living in the US legally while awaiting their final asylum merits hearing. Start (actually resume) following the asylum law. Allow immigrants to request asylum and don’t deport them before the government has made a decision on their request.

Reforms

• Immigration is a complex problem. Solving it will require a balance of enforcement coupled with updating our outdated immigration laws, which is Congress’s job.

• Increase our restrictive caps on legal immigration. These have not been raised since 1990. In combination with America’s declining birth rates, low legal immigration caps create chronic labor shortages, which incentivize undocumented immigration. Raising these caps will reduce undocumented immigration because it will allow immigrants to move here legally. Because undocumented immigrants frequently work in industries where there are shortages of American workers, they do not generally take jobs from Americans.

• Make asylum fairer and faster. Allocate more resources (e.g., immigration judges) so that asylum decisions are made more quickly. Make the asylum process fairer by ensuring that immigration judges are independent from political influence and that asylum seekers have more access to legal counsel.

• More border enforcement. Increase enforcement to prevent undocumented immigrants from crossing the border between official entry points. Only allow newly arrived undocumented immigrants to remain in the US if they enter at an official entry point and pass a credible fear interview, which allows them to enter the asylum process.

• Provide legal status to long-term undocumented immigrants. Allow undocumented immigrants who have lived in the US for at least several years and have no criminal record a path to long-term legal status, perhaps including citizenship.

These are mainstream ideas supported by most Americans.

For 40 or more years (and as late as 2025), bipartisan groups in Congress have repeatedly attempted to increase legal immigration and legalize long-term undocumented immigrants, and Presidents from both parties have followed a policy of deporting mainly undocumented immigrants who have committed serious crimes. Public opinion for 20 years has supported legalization and opposed mass deportation.