The Failure of Immigration Legislation is a Symptom of Our Broken Government

Last month, Congress failed to pass legislation on immigration. Democrats blamed the failure on Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson. Republicans blamed the failure on Joe Biden. Both sides immediately started using the failure as fodder for the next election. But the failure of the immigration legislation was not caused by Trump, Johnson or Biden. It was caused by a government stuck in partisan gridlock.

Congress has been unable to pass an immigration law since 1990, when Biden was a Senator from a small state. Trump was running casinos, and Johnson was too young to drive. During the same time, the number of immigrants has surged from 19.7 million to 49 million and from 7.9% to 15% of the population.

There is a clear immigration crisis. Crowds are lined up at the border, while U.S. facilities are overrun. Cities are being flooded with immigrants. Voters, on both sides of the aisle, say immigration is the greatest challenge facing our country. Yet for the past 34 years, Congress has been unable to pass any laws on immigration, because both sides are gridlocked.

In this presentation and discussion, we will describe why government is too gridlocked to solve arguably the biggest problem facing our country, and we will make recommendations on how to end the gridlock and fix immigration in ways both parties and the majority of Americans can accept.