The Republicans have made immigration a big issue in the past several election cycles.  When Democrats were in the White House, Democrats had an incentive to reach a global agreement with Republicans to try to fix a broken system.  Trump, however, has zero interest in fixing the system.  He wants mass deportations.  Democrats have no incentive to cooperate with this concept of a plan.

The important thing to understand is that there is not a single immigration problem.  There are multiple immigration problems.

The one of least concern to Republicans is with the legal immigration system.  Depending on job skills and country of origin, a potential immigrant can be on a waiting list for several years.  People who think they would be better off in the U.S. but are being told to wait six or seven years are likely to try other, not legal, methods to get to the U.S. Continue Reading...