The Morning: The Democrats’ immigration problem

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时 间 ：2021-03-22 18:20

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t March 22, 2021
o
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y By David Leonhardt
Good morning. We explain the Biden
administration’s early struggles on immigration
policy.

Central American migrants are streaming north to the U.S. in the largest numbers in
two decades. Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

The Democrats’ immigration

problem
For most of the past few decades, the Democratic Party had a pretty clear
stance on immigration. It favored a mix of enforcement (like border
security and the deportation of undocumented immigrants who
committed serious crimes) and new pro-immigrant laws (like an increase
in legal immigration and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented
people).

In recent years, however, a growing number of immigration advocates and

progressive Democrats have become dissatisfied with this combination.
They have pointed out that Democrats’ support for tighter border security
has not led to the bipartisan compromise that it was supposed to:
Republicans continue to block bills that offer a pathway to citizenship.

In response, these progressives and activists have pushed the party to

change. Bill Clinton ran for re-election on a platform that said, “We cannot
tolerate illegal immigration and we must stop it.” Barack Obama once said,
“We simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected,
undocumented, unchecked.” President Biden has instead emphasized the
humane treatment of immigrants, regardless of their legal status.

After taking office, Biden began putting this idea into action. He
announced a 100-day halt on deportations (which a judge has blocked). He
allowed more migrants — especially children — to enter the country,
rather than being detained. And Central American migrants, sensing that
the U.S. has become more welcoming, are streaming north in the largest
numbers in two decades.

The surge appears to have surprised the Biden administration, as Doris

Meissner of the Migration Policy Institute, who ran the Immigration and
Naturalization Service in the 1990s, told me. Republicans have pounced,
accusing Democrats of favoring an “open border.”

Some Democrats are unhappy, too. Biden’s policy “incentivizes droves of

people to come, and the only way to slow it down is by changing policy at
our doorstep,” Representative Vicente Gonzalez of Texas told The
Washington Post. Henry Cuellar, another House Democrat from Texas,
said the administration was sending “a terrible message.”

It all stems from the fact that the Democratic Party no longer has a clear
policy on immigration.

Trump obscured the debate

While Donald Trump was president, he smoothed over the Democrats’
internal tensions because they could unite in opposition to him. Trump
used racist language; Democrats abhorred it. Trump separated families
and locked children in cages; Democrats promised to end those policies.
Trump said he would build a border wall, paid for by Mexico; Democrats
mocked his failure.

With Trump out of office, however, the party faces some hard, unresolved
questions, including:

Do Democrats still favor the deportation of anyone? Some

activists criticized Obama as the “deporter in chief.” But he focused
deportations on only two groups: recent arrivals and immigrants who
committed serious crimes.
If Democrats prefer a more lenient policy than Obama’s, it isn’t clear
whether they support the deportation of anybody — or whether they
instead believe that the humane solution is to allow everybody who
manages to enter the U.S., legally or illegally, to remain. The party’s 2020
platform doesn’t mention any conditions in which deportation is
acceptable. Biden’s attempt to halt deportations for 100 days highlights
the party’s new attitude.

Which migrants should be turned away at the border? And what

should happen to them next?

There are no easy answers. One option is to prevent people from entering
(as is now the case with many adults traveling alone) — but that can create
miserable conditions on Mexico’s side of the border. A second is to detain
people in the U.S. while their legal cases are being considered — but
detaining children is fraught, and many Democrats consider the jailing of
any immigrants akin to Trumpism.

A third option is to admit migrants and order them to appear at a future

legal hearing (as is happening with many children and families). The
adults must often wear ankle bracelets. Still, the process can take years
and raises other thorny issues. Many migrants are not good asylum
candidates; they are coming to find work or to be near relatives, neither of
which necessarily qualifies them for legal entry.

Often, the administration will still be left to decide whom it is willing to

deport.

Migrants in Tijuana, Mexico, during a demonstration this month demanding clearer

U.S. migration policies. Guillermo Arias/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

What’s the progressive policy?

There are potential policy solutions for all of these questions. The U.S.
could increase legal immigration. It could build more detention facilities
with humane conditions. It could do more to improve conditions in Latin
America and to push Mexico to control its own southern border. The Biden
administration is pursuing many of these policies.

But if Biden and his aides appear to be less steady on immigration than
many other policy areas, there is a reason for that: They are less steady.

Congress appears unlikely to increase legal immigration levels by much.

And polls show that while public opinion favors a pathway to citizenship
for many undocumented immigrants, it also favors rigorous border
security and the enforcement of existing immigration laws.

I’m not even sure that these views should be described as conservative.
Historically, many progressives supported immigration restrictions as a
way to keep U.S. wages high. Today, working-class Americans — including
many Asian-American, Black and Latino voters — tend to favor more
restrictions than progressive Democrats, who are often high-earning
professionals, do. This contrast may play a role in Republicans’ recent
gains among minority voters.

“Unfortunately, the way the debate plays out too frequently feels like,
‘Everybody should come and the border should be open,’” Cecilia Muñoz, a
longtime immigrant advocate and former Obama adviser, told me. “And
that’s the thing that makes Americans anxious.”

One of the advantages to the Democrats’ old approach to immigration was

that it was easy to describe: Be firm at the border, be generous to people
who have lived in the U.S. for years. The new approach also has an abiding
idea: Be more welcoming to people who want to enter the country. But
Democrats still have not figured out the limits to that idea, which has
created an early problem for the Biden presidency.

THE LATEST NEWS

The Virus

A U.S. trial of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine found that it

provided strong protection with no serious side effects. The
company will seek F.D.A. approval, but the U.S. may not need the
shot.

Rich countries signed away a chance to vaccinate the world. The

Times’s Selam Gebrekidan and Matt Apuzzo explain.

Miami Beach extended an 8 p.m. curfew to deal with crowds of

spring breakers.

Vaccinated older Americans are filling restaurants, hugging their

grandchildren and are offering a glimpse into post-pandemic times.

Politics

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arriving at the presidential palace in Kabul,

Afghanistan, yesterday. Afghan Presidential Palace, via Reuters

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin traveled to Afghanistan to meet

with President Ashraf Ghani before a May 1 deadline to withdraw
U.S. troops from the country.

Investigators probably have enough evidence to charge some

Capitol rioters with sedition, a federal prosecutor said.

Representative Tom Reed, Republican of New York, said he would

not run for any political office next year, after a former lobbyist told
The Washington Post that Reed touched her inappropriately in
2017.

Simply “asking questions”: How Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin

became the Republican Party’s foremost amplifier of
 disinformation.

Other Big Stories

After the attacks at three Atlanta-area spas, officers handcuffed one

victim’s husband for hours, he told the news site Mundo Hispánico.

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evades international sanctions.

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from an international treaty on preventing violence against women.

Meet Aaron Appelhans, the first Black sheriff in Wyoming’s 131-

year state history.

Opinions
How many immigrants should the U.S. legally admit?

More: “There’s nothing wrong with open borders,” The Times’s

Farhad Manjoo has written. Shikha Dalmia has argued that more
immigration will lift economic growth, and Matthew Yglesias has
written “One Billion Americans” a book making the case that more
immigration will help the U.S. compete with China.

Fewer: “The progressive case for reducing immigration” revolves

around higher wages, according to Philip Cafaro. And The Atlantic’s
David Frum has suggested that less immigration will reduce the
political appeal of nativism.

Morning Reads
In Bloom: Spring has arrived in New York. Here come the cornflowers,
butterfly milkweed and black-eyed Susans.

Lives Lived: Dr. Nawal el Saadawi was an Egyptian author, physician

and advocate for women’s rights in the Arab world who told her own story
of female genital mutilation in her memoirs. She died at 89.

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New York Times — with this special offer. Your support makes our work
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ARTS AND IDEAS a

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The Märklenium museum and exhibition space. Felix Schmitt for The New York Times
t

Model trains, thriving o

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Model trains are the latest industry getting a pandemic-spurred boost
from people seeking new hobbies. With sales rising, Märklin, a 162-year-
old German company, is hiring new apprentices to learn the precise art of
making miniature trains. (Take a virtual tour of the factory here.)

“Outside, there is total chaos,” one enthusiast said. “But inside, around my
little train set, it is quiet, it is picturesque.”

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

What to Cook

Paola & Murray for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist:
Angharad Bailey.

This spinach soup with tahini and lemon is bright and complex.

What to Watch
The latest season of “Genius” focuses on Aretha Franklin, played by
Cynthia Erivo. “In the moments when it finds its groove,” James
Poniewozik writes in a review, “it socks it to us.”

Virtual travel
Nintendo’s theme park opened in Japan last week. Take a look at the
“gleefully surreal” park in The Verge.

Now Time to Play

The pangram from Friday’s Spelling Bee was unpopular. Here is today’s
puzzle — or you can play online.

Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Heart throb (five letters).

If you’re in the mood to play more, find all our games here.

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See
you tomorrow. — David

P.S. The Times’s Marc Lacey will host a subscribers-only event looking
back on one year of the pandemic at 7 p.m. Eastern tomorrow. R.S.V.P. to
attend.

Correction: Friday’s newsletter misidentified the Times Op-Doc that

received an Oscar nomination. It was “A Concerto Is a Conversation,” not
“Alone.”

You can see today’s print front page here.

Today’s episode of “The Daily” is about long Covid. On the Book Review
podcast, Thomas Dyja talks about New York City’s history, and Derek
DelGaudio discusses his memoir.

Claire Moses, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Tom Wright-Piersanti and Sanam

Yar contributed to The Morning. You can reach the team at
themorning@nytimes.com.

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