"Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. Last month, Republican House Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar introduced a new bipartisan immigration reform bill with a remarkable appeal to President Donald Trump: "Sir, I believe that you could be for immigration what Lincoln was for slavery and Reagan was for communism." That is an unsubtle pitch for an unsubtle historical moment."
"If it sounds absurd, consider that after Trump signed into law the Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act on July 4, enforcement resources are now guaranteed at stratospheric levels. For decades, immigration hawks insisted that they wanted border security first, before considering any larger deal on immigration. Now, in Trump's second term, they have it. By their own logic, this political moment ought to present a real window of opportunity for action."
"And Salazar's appeal gets at a familiar political paradox: those who have the most credibility on an issue are most able to defy expectations and reset the underlying terms of a problem. " Only Nixon could go to China," because Richard Nixon had spent decades in Congress making his name as a rabid anti-communist crusader. If he was willing to deal with Mao Zedong, it must have been because he truly believed doing so was in America's best interest."
Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar proposed a bipartisan immigration bill explicitly appealing to President Trump’s authority to reshape immigration policy. A newly enacted Republican One Big Beautiful Bill Act guarantees vastly increased enforcement resources. Immigration hawks who long demanded border security first now possess those resources in Trump’s second term, creating a political opening for a deal. The dynamic echoes the political paradox where credibility on an issue enables dramatic policy shifts. Trump remains committed to a border wall, and ICE is slated to expand into the largest federal law enforcement agency amid vigorous deportation efforts.
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