Immigration policy
With DHS at the forefront of current news cycles, you'd think immigration legislation would be high priority. Not so much.
For all the talk about the shortcomings of immigration legislation, there's little to nothing on the table. Neither Republicans nor Democrats are putting forth much that could reset our national conversation. I don't blame Democrats - whatever they introduce is at best ignored, or worse, villified as unpatriotic.
Republicans seem to be afraid of their own shadows on this topic.
So we here in these United States of America are stuck in a hellacious limbo, with ICE and CBP acting extrajudicially. There seems to be no way for refugees or immigrants to come to our country legally. When they follow the law, they are arrested and deported even as they are complying with what few laws we still recognize.
For now then, the only immigration policy for the USA seems to be: Pay up. Pay $1 million if you're an individual. Or your company can pay $100,000 for a visa that may not be valid tomorrow.
How did we, a nation of immigrants, reach this nadir in our national history?
For all the talk about the shortcomings of immigration legislation, there's little to nothing on the table. Neither Republicans nor Democrats are putting forth much that could reset our national conversation. I don't blame Democrats - whatever they introduce is at best ignored, or worse, villified as unpatriotic.
Republicans seem to be afraid of their own shadows on this topic.
So we here in these United States of America are stuck in a hellacious limbo, with ICE and CBP acting extrajudicially. There seems to be no way for refugees or immigrants to come to our country legally. When they follow the law, they are arrested and deported even as they are complying with what few laws we still recognize.
For now then, the only immigration policy for the USA seems to be: Pay up. Pay $1 million if you're an individual. Or your company can pay $100,000 for a visa that may not be valid tomorrow.
How did we, a nation of immigrants, reach this nadir in our national history?
Proposed legislation:
- October 10, 2025 – December 3, 2025:
- September 26, 2025 - October 9, 2025:
- July 17, 2025 – August 22, 2025: Holy Sovereignty Protection Act protecting Pope Leo from deportation; revision to H-2A regulations specifically for farmers in Louisiana. That's all folks!
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© 2025 Denise Elaine Heap. Please contact me for permission to quote.
Photo: Bartholdi's statue of "Liberty" (1876), from Robert N. Dennis' collection of stereoscopic views. Photo New York Public Library. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.