New York Legal Assistance Group

However the future of the Trump Administration plays out from here, the xenophobic, isolationist rhetoric with which the bombastic billionaire’s candidacy was launched ought to be remembered in the enduring historical narrative. Over a year and a half ago when he first announced that he was running for President, Trump boldly declared that, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

Painting a grim portrait of reality which would later come full circle in his ‘American carnage’ inaugural address, Trump claimed the United States was being overwhelmed by dangerous immigrants and losing control of its safety, promising that “I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall.”

At first, most of the political and media establishment brushed him off as a hateful fringe candidate, a Strom Thurmond, George Wallace, or Barry Goldwater type. The Huffington Post even announced at first that they would only cover Trump’s candidacy in their entertainment section. The reason why, perhaps, was that this shtick had yet to work on a national level in modern American politics. Even the most conservative Republicans had always taken fairly liberal stances on immigration between the U.S. and our neighbors.

Rewinding to 1980 when George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan squared off in a Republican primary debate, they were asked whether illegal immigrants should be allowed to attend Texas public schools. Bush’s response was thoughtful and humane, “Today, if those people were here I’d say I think they would get whatever it is that their society is giving to their neighbors. But the problem has to be solved. The problem has to be solved because as we have made illegal some kinds of labor that I’d like to see legal we’re doing two things: We’re creating a whole society of really honorable, decent, family loving people that are in violation of the law and secondly we’re exacerbating relations with Mexico.”

Reagan struck a similarly friendly tone, asserting that “I think the time has come that the United States and our neighbors, particularly our neighbor to the south should have a better understanding and a better relationship than we’ve ever had.” He even went so far as to say that “I think that we haven’t been sensitive enough to our size and our power.” Six years later as President, Reagan would sign a bill passed by Congress that granted amnesty to roughly three million Mexican immigrants who had entered the country illegally. In 1984 he said “I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and lived here, even though sometime back they may have entered illegally.”

Therefore, President Obama was honoring a decades-long bipartisan tradition of mitigating the effects of our messy immigration system in 2012 when he signed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals memorandum. Using the discretionary enforcement powers of the executive branch, Obama’s order protected immigrants who were younger than 31 and could prove they entered the country before their 16th birthday, were enrolled in or had graduated from high school, or were honorably discharged from the military from deportation.

While DACA didn’t make those it protects eligible for federal welfare or student aid, nor did it provide a pathway to citizenship, it is still the legal means by which over 750,000 immigrants are currently living and working in the U.S. This is likely why, despite promising to repeal the policy while campaigning, President Trump has yet to actually take action to undo Obama’s memorandum. Despite the harsh rhetoric he may have employed on the campaign trail, it’s possible that Trump might actually possess a modicum of an understanding as to the human costs his actions could have.

Plus, the President employed undocumented workers to build his famous tower in New York City — so he must realize how crucial they are to our economy. Not to mention that even if he repeals the protective policy or simply allows it to expire, the numerous sanctuary cities across the country will still prevent most deportations from taking place so the actual effect will merely be one of placing hardworking people in violation of the law, just as poppy Bush pointed out years ago. After all, if Trump really believes what he said then why hasn’t he repealed DACA yet?

Also, the President has been conspicuously quiet lately on another one of his signature campaign promises in regards to Mexico — the wall. As speculation swells that he may be facing a rebellion from within his own party, another one of Reagan’s answers from the 1980 debate seems especially salient, “Rather than talking about putting up a fence, why don’t we work out some recognition of our mutual problems, make it possible for them to come here legally with a work permit, and then while they’re working and earning here they pay taxes here. When they want to go back they can go back and cross, and open the border both ways.”