RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR.: Immigration is a top issue in the 2024 election

In America, the immigration debate never quite goes away. It might lie dormant for a while, but it always reignites.

Like when there is a presidential election on the calendar.

Too many Americans assume the commander in chief can work magic by ensuring border security but also allowing in enough immigrants to meet the country’s labor needs. Yet developing an honest and levelheaded approach to immigration is everyone’s responsibility.

I’ve written about immigration and immigrants for 35 years, always from the Southwest — Arizona, Texas and California. Those border states are ground zero in the immigration debate. Out here, it’s easy to feel the heat coming off the issue.

When you live in the Southwest, the effects of immigration are all around you — all day, every day. Whether it’s Spanish-language billboards or the proliferation of Asian-owned businesses, the environment reminds you that the heart and soul of America is changing.

But it’s only when my fellow journalists who live and work along the Acela corridor begin to produce stories about the issue that it becomes clear something big is happening.

What’s happening is that the security of the U.S.-Mexico border has become a top issue in the 2024 presidential election.

And now that Democratic mayors have had to deal with an influx of migrants bused into their cities by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, it’s no longer just Republicans who are sounding the alarm.

But the fact that immigration is back on the front page doesn’t mean the political parties have risen to the occasion. Neither one approaches the issue with truthfulness, maturity or common sense.

Republicans trade in falsehoods when they insist that the anxiety many Americans feel about immigrants — whether they’re legal or undocumented — is not about race or ethnicity, when they imply that immigrants harm America and when they refuse to punish those who employ the undocumented. They’re also telling a whopper when they say that those who undertake the legal process of asking for asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border are entering the United States “illegally.”

For crying out loud, these migrants literally turn themselves into U.S. Border Patrol agents because they want refugee status. They’re the most inept lawbreakers in the world. Don’t they know they’re supposed to try to elude U.S. law enforcement?

Meanwhile, Democrats are tying themselves up in knots by trying to be all things to all people, pander to every special interest group and appeal to both progressives and moderates.

President Joe Biden is the embodiment of this Democratic two-step.

He promised to end President Donald Trump’s border policies, welcomed refugees from Ukraine and granted temporary legal status to thousands of Venezuelans already in the United States.

But Biden was a restrictionist while serving in the Senate, where he voted for one bill that built fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border, and another that allowed for the speedy expulsion of the undocumented and a 10-year ban before they could return. He was second-in-command to President Barack Obama, who deported more than 3 million people. And as president, Biden restarted plans to build a border wall and wound up keeping many of Trump’s policies.

And now, we’re told that Biden could be “pressured” to sign legislation that creates the strict immigration limits Republicans want. That’s absurd. Look at the record. No pressure is necessary.

It’s no wonder that those who support Democrats are confused. Last week, I read a column by a liberal journalist who insisted that Democrats used to support immigration restrictions until Donald Trump and his punitive measures came along, and then they flipped to a softer position.

A few days later, I heard a left-leaning radio talk show host make the opposite argument, claiming that Democrats have traditionally been lenient on the border, but now House Republicans are forcing them to get tough.

Who’s right? They both are. All that is happening, and at the same time. So, in 2024, are Democrats cracking down on border security and undocumented immigrants? Are they trying to be lenient? Or are they striving to be somewhere in the middle?

Yes, yes and yes. Think of it this way: On abortion, Democrats are pro-choice. But on immigration, they’re multiple choice.

Both political parties have mangled their stances on immigration. Americans want leadership. All they’re getting is gamesmanship.

Ruben Navarrette’s email address is crimscribe@icloud.com. His podcast, “Ruben in the Center,” is available through every podcast app.