Why Is Immigration Even Political? It’s Broken. Let’s Fix It.
The Moment We Can’t Ignore
On January 7, 2026, a federal ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother in Minneapolis. Days later, another shooting. Conflicting reports. Grieving families. National outrage.
This didn’t happen because of one person’s mistake. This is what happens when a system breaks so completely that nobody wins anymore; not immigrants, not border communities, not American workers, and certainly not Americans who just want a functional government.
The Minneapolis shootings aren’t the cause of our immigration crisis. They’re the symptom.
And right now, with this issue dominating the national conversation, Americans have a choice: we can keep watching Democrats and Republicans point fingers at each other while nothing changes, or we can step back and understand how we got here, and then, finally, fix it.
Let’s do that.
Immigration Made America Great
Here’s something both parties have forgotten: immigration didn’t accidentally happen to America. Immigration is America.
When English colonists arrived in the 1600s, they wanted settlers desperately. Local governments didn’t just allow immigration; they competed for it. Parliament even passed the Plantation Act of 1740 to make it easier for foreigners to become English citizens.[1] Why? Because they understood a basic truth: more people meant more labor, more commerce, more growth.
Fast forward to the American founding. The Declaration of Independence actually blamed King George for stopping immigration. The colonists were so furious that he was “obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners” that they listed it as a grievance against him.
Then came the great waves of immigration that built America. Between 1815 and 1930, more than 5 million Irish came here, fleeing the Potato Famine.[2] Between 1880 and 1900, nearly 12 million more arrived from Southern and Eastern Europe, looking for something better.[3] Chinese immigrants built railroads. German immigrants founded farms. Jewish immigrants started businesses and became civic leaders. Italian immigrants built neighborhoods that became the heart of cities.
These weren’t separate from America’s success story. They were the story.
Why? Because immigration has always been an economic engine. Immigrants take jobs others won’t. They start businesses at higher rates than native-born Americans. They rejuvenate aging communities. They fill gaps where labor shortages would otherwise cripple industries. Between 1900 and 2020, immigrants and their children founded nearly half of all Fortune 500 companies.[4]
Immigration also solves what might otherwise be unsolvable: an aging population. Right now, as Americans live longer and birth rates drop, we need young workers paying into Social Security and Medicare. Without immigration, those systems face a demographic cliff. With it, there’s hope.
For most of American history, we understood this. We weren’t naïve. We had rules about who could enter and under what conditions. But the basic principle was clear: immigrants make America stronger, richer, and better.
Then something changed.
How It All Fell Apart: Four Turning Points
Our immigration system didn’t break overnight. It fractured slowly, at predictable moments, and both political parties made choices that led us here.
The 1965 Opening and the Unintended Consequence
In 1965, Congress ended the old national origins quota system. For the first time in decades, immigration opened up significantly. This was meant to be progressive and fair, no more favoritism toward Northern Europeans.
But here’s what happened: the system that replaced it created a vacuum. Without clear pathways for legal immigration that matched actual labor market demands, a shadow economy emerged. People who needed work found their way across borders. Employers who needed workers looked the other way. And governments, especially border states, let it happen because it served their interests.
This wasn’t accidental. It was profitable.
1986: The Amnesty That Backfired
President Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act in November 1986, and it seemed like a solution. Roughly 3 million undocumented immigrants could legalize if they proved they’d been here since 1982.[5] Smart. Humane. A fresh start.
Here’s what actually happened: the law included employer sanctions, penalties for hiring undocumented workers. But there was a loophole. Employers could avoid penalties if workers showed relatively convincing documents.[6] It didn’t matter if those documents were fake.
Translation? Employers could claim they didn’t know, and that was good enough. So, the sanctions meant almost nothing.
Meanwhile, the amnesty sent a message to the world: if you make it to America and stay long enough, you’ll eventually get legal status. This created what economists call a “perverse incentive.” People began crossing the border illegally with a new understanding: eventually, you’ll probably be okay.
Between 1980 and 1990, the foreign-born population jumped from 14.1 million to 19.8 million.[7] The pattern was set.
1990s: When Enforcement Became Partisan Theater
After the Reagan amnesty didn’t reduce illegal immigration (due to the enforcement loophole), Congress swung hard in the opposite direction. The 1990s brought tougher rhetoric, expanded Border Patrol funding, and get-tough policies.
But here’s the thing: enforcement requires “enforcing”.
Border states—especially agricultural states like California, Arizona, and Texas—depended on immigrant labor. They complained publicly about illegal immigration. But they didn’t actually want it to stop, because their entire economy relied on it. Construction, agriculture, food processing, hospitality: these industries had become dependent on workers they could pay less, with fewer protections.
Meanwhile, both political parties benefited from the status quo: Republicans could blame Democrats for “loose borders” and “not enforcing laws.” Democrats could point to Republicans for “exploiting workers.” And nothing changed.
The system became frozen in dysfunction.
2016 to 2024: When Rhetoric Replaced Reality
Over nearly a decade, immigration became purely about symbols and anger instead of actual policy.
Trump promised mass deportations in 2016. Obama deported record numbers. Neither fundamentally changed the system because both parties were invested in keeping the current dysfunction alive.
Then came 2024. After record numbers of migrants surged across the border in the Biden years (partly because of economic collapse in Latin America, partly because people sensed weakening enforcement), the issue exploded politically.[8] Mexicans who’d been here for 25 or more years, who’d built lives, raised families, contributed to communities, felt betrayed by newer arrivals who seemed to have easier paths.
The political opportunity was too good to pass up. Trump got elected partly on immigration anger. Democrats admitted they’d failed on border management.
And here’s the critical piece: neither side addressed the actual system. They just changed the cruelty level and blamed each other.
Both Parties Got Rich, While America Got Broken
Here’s what nobody wants to say out loud: both Democratic and Republican politicians, and the industries they serve, benefited from keeping the immigration system broken.
For Republicans: a broken system meant they could campaign on border chaos without ever fixing it. Every election, they got donations, votes, and headlines by blaming Democrats for open borders. But if they actually fixed the border, they’d lose a major campaign issue.
For Democrats: a broken system meant they had sympathetic causes (families being separated) and a constituency (immigrants and their allies) they could rally around. But if they actually fixed it, with serious enforcement paired with humane legal pathways, they’d lose the moral high ground of opposing “mean Republicans.”
For business interests: a broken system meant cheap labor without accountability. Construction companies, agricultural operations, and hospitality businesses could pay less, offer worse conditions, and hire desperate people who couldn’t complain to authorities.
For border states: chaos meant federal money flowing in to “address the crisis,” even if the crisis was never actually addressed.
So the system stayed broken. Not because anyone was evil, but because everyone involved had perverse incentives to keep it that way.
Until it got so out of control that it exploded in Minneapolis.
The Real Crisis: Government Credibility
The deeper crisis isn’t about numbers. It’s about legitimacy.
When federal agents shoot people and narratives don’t match video evidence, when U.S. citizens are detained without due process and only released hours or days later with no apology, when families are separated from jobs they’d held for years because their work permits expired and there’s no renewal process, people stop trusting government.
And once you lose trust in government’s ability to enforce rules fairly, you lose the foundation for any functioning immigration system.
Here’s what the data says: 79% of Americans think immigration is good for the country.[9] Voters strongly oppose mass deportations of people with no criminal records. Voters strongly oppose deporting people who’ve been here 10+ years. But voters also want a functioning border and real consequences for illegal entry.
The American public isn’t divided on immigration. The American public agrees on what a sane system looks like. It’s the politicians who can’t agree, because agreement means giving up political advantage.
The Centercratic Blueprint
Here’s what needs to happen. Not tomorrow, not in theory, NOW, in concrete steps.
1. Secure the Border (Really, This Time)
“Border security” has been a political slogan for 40 years. It’s time to make it real.
This means adequate staffing of border agents, customs officers, and inspectors (we’re short thousands). Modern detection technology to identify drugs and contraband. Functioning detention and removal processes. Clear legal consequences for illegal entry that are actually enforced.
This isn’t cruel. This is competent. Right now, people know the border isn’t being enforced consistently, which creates exactly the wrong incentive structure. If the border is secure and enforcement is consistent, people can plan accordingly.
This costs money upfront. But it’s cheaper than the chaos we have now, and it works only if it’s paired with the next step.
2. Create Actual Legal Pathways That Match Reality
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: some people are going to cross the border seeking work because they’re desperate. Some of them will find jobs because American employers need them. This has been true for decades.
Instead of pretending this won’t happen, we should manage it. This means temporary worker visas that can expand and contract based on actual labor demand (agriculture, construction, hospitality all have specific seasonal needs). Merit-based legal immigration for skilled workers (the H-1B visa has a lottery; we’re turning away engineers and doctors). A clear pathway for people who’ve lived and worked here long-term to earn legal status (not automatic citizenship, but a realistic path). Family reunification visas that don’t require decades-long waits.
The Centercratic principle here is simple: know the difference between legal status and citizenship.
Legal status means you can work, you can rent an apartment, you can get a driver’s license, and you’re subject to tax obligations and labor laws like everyone else. You’re not automatically a citizen. You must earn that through demonstrated integration into American life.
This creates accountability. If you’re here legally, you have something to lose if you break the law. You can’t hide in the shadows. And American workers can compete on a level playing field; no more exploitation of workers who can’t report wage theft or unsafe conditions.
3. Enforce Immigration Law Consistently and Fairly
This is where it gets real.
People who enter illegally and are caught should face consequences; deportation for first offenses, with exceptions for humanitarian cases and family reunification. No exceptions for long-term residence without a legal pathway earned. This is hard, but it’s also necessary for any system to have credibility.
But here’s the critical part: enforcement must be fair, transparent, and bound by law.
This means no ICE raids based on ethnicity or appearance. Clear due process before detention. Family units not separated, with exceptions only for safety concerns. Consequences for agents who violate constitutional protections. Transparent reporting on enforcement actions.
Right now, we swing between two extremes: no enforcement (chaos) or brutal enforcement (Minneapolis). Both destroy legitimacy. The centrist approach is strict but fair.
4. Deal With People Already Here
Nearly 10 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States.[10] You cannot deport 10 million people. It’s logistically impossible, economically destructive, and morally indefensible when many have lived here for decades, have American citizen children, and are integrated into communities.
Instead: For people here 10+ years, create an earned legal status pathway. Background check, proof of employment history and taxes, English language progress. This takes time but it’s honest. You’ve proven you can contribute. Now do it legally with full worker protections and tax accountability.
For newer arrivals without legal status: Case-by-case enforcement. Priority for removal: people with serious criminal records. Secondary: recent arrivals without employment or community ties. Tertiary: everyone else, handled through regular immigration court (which is massively backlogged and needs funding).
This isn’t amnesty. It’s acknowledging reality and managing it competently.
5. Fund the Immigration Courts
Today, immigration court backlogs exceed 5 million cases.[11] People wait years for hearings. This creates exactly what we have: uncertainty, people disappearing into the shadow economy, and no one knowing their actual status.
Fund immigration judges. Build the system so cases move through in months, not years. This allows real adjudication, which people are asylum-eligible, which people should be deported, who gets legal status.
Without this, you can’t have justice or order. You just have chaos.
6. Fair Labor Laws for All, No Exceptions
Here’s what both parties miss: immigrants are workers. They should have the same labor protections everyone else does: minimum wage enforcement, workplace safety standards, protection against wage theft, right to organize.
When immigrants can hide and face exploitation, they become vulnerable to employers who abuse them and to native-born workers who see wages driven down by exploitation. You don’t protect American workers by attacking immigrants. You protect them by creating level playing fields.
Fair wages and conditions for immigrant workers means American workers face fair competition, not race-to-the-bottom competition.
Why This Works for Everyone
Let’s be clear about what this framework accomplishes:
For border security hawks: real enforcement, real consequences for illegal entry, a secure border. For immigration advocates: humane treatment, fair due process, legal pathways for people who contribute, no family separations. For American workers: a level playing field, no exploitation-driven wage suppression, actual labor law enforcement. For business: legal worker pathways that let them hire without legal risk, workers who can report violations without fear of deportation. For immigrant communities: clarity. You know the rules. You know what’s possible. You can plan your life. For taxpayers: actual management of a complex system instead of paying for endless crisis response.
This isn’t compromise that makes everyone 40% happy. It’s a framework that solves the actual problem instead of performing outrage about it.
The Real Choice
Here’s what Minneapolis taught us: when systems break, people get hurt. And the hurt doesn’t stay abstract. It shows up as a dead mother. A family in 10-degree weather without proper clothing. A community that doesn’t know if neighbors will be there tomorrow.
We can keep pretending that immigration is a simple problem that fits on a campaign slogan. Democrats saying “we need compassion,” Republicans saying “we need enforcement.” Both right. Both incomplete. And while they argue, nothing works.
Or we can do what the Centercratic Party was founded to do: surface the facts, acknowledge the tradeoffs, and build a system that actually works.
Immigration will always have tradeoffs. Security vs. openness. Order vs. compassion. Protecting American workers vs. welcoming newcomers. You don’t solve these by pretending they don’t exist. You solve them by being honest about what matters and building systems where all those values can coexist.
That’s not radical. It’s just competence.
And right now, competence is revolutionary.
The Minneapolis incidents will be forgotten in a few news cycles. Another crisis will emerge. Politicians will point fingers. But somewhere in America, a family will be torn apart because the system is broken, or a community will stay stagnant because we can’t manage immigration well enough to revitalize it, or a worker’s wages will stay suppressed because the labor market is chaos.
We know how to fix this. We’ve fixed complex systems before. We just need the political courage to say: we’re going to do what works, not what gets applause from our base.
That’s when things change.
References
[1] Cato Institute. “A Brief History of U.S. Immigration Policy from the Colonial Period to Present-Day.” (2022). The Plantation Act of 1740 was designed to encourage immigration by providing a pathway to citizenship for foreign Protestants.
[2] U.S. Library of Congress. “Immigration to the United States, 1851 to 1900.” Historical documentation of major immigration waves during the 19th century.
[3] U.S. Library of Congress. “Immigration to the United States, 1851 to 1900.” Historical documentation of major immigration waves during the 19th century.
[4] Migration Policy Institute. “Immigrants’ Contribution to Entrepreneurship.” Approximately 45% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children as of 2020.
[5] Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). The act legalized approximately 2.7 million undocumented immigrants who could demonstrate continuous residence since January 1, 1982.
[6] U.S. Department of Justice Office of Inspector General. “Review of the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s Enforcement of Employer Sanctions.” (1990). Documented analysis of IRCA’s enforcement loopholes, finding that the requirement for employers to verify documents was easily circumvented through the acceptance of documents that merely appeared authentic, resulting in minimal actual enforcement of employer sanctions.
[7] U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey and Decennial Census data showing foreign-born population growth from 1980 to 1990.
[8] Migration Policy Institute, The New York Times. Documentation of Biden-era immigration surge (2021-2024) and its political consequences leading to 2024 election outcomes.
[9] Gallup Poll (2026). “Immigration and the Economy.” 79% of American adults reported belief that immigration is good for the country, with significant shifts in public opinion on mass deportation policies.
[10] U.S. Department of Homeland Security estimates place the undocumented immigrant population at approximately 10.7 million as of 2024.
[11] American Immigration Council and Executive Office for Immigration Review. Immigration court backlog exceeds 5 million pending cases as of 2026, with average case resolution times exceeding 4 years in some jurisdictions.