President Trump has weathered one week after another of controversy, missteps and turmoil. None quite compares with what he experienced with the storm over his policy to separate migrant children from their parents. It was a trifecta of ineptitude: a policy hash, a political debacle and the most dramatic personal step-down of his presidency. …
For Trump and for the Democrats, the immigration issue presents opportunities and risks. Democrats see opportunities at this moment to gain from the mistakes of the administration. They know that public opinion is on their side on the issue of the young, undocumented immigrants who arrived with parents who came to the country illegally, the Dreamers.
But immigration helped elect Trump as president. As both an economic issue and a cultural one, immigration provided Trump a way to express his America First philosophy. For many of his supporters, the issue encapsulates a belief that immigration, particularly illegal immigration, has changed the character of the country for the worse. CONT.
Dan Balz, Washington Post