Donald Trump and maga Republicans have a model for immigration reform but refuse to be create humane changes

Stop treating Houston immigrant families like criminals | Opinion
Echo opinion letter published in the Houston Chronicle

Immigration inequity:  Regarding “He is a handyman, not a criminal. Houston must face our immigration reality. | Editorial,” (Dec. 16)- a very sad 😟 report: This story highlights the inequities of current immigration enforcement — inequities most Americans already recognize as wrong. Houston Chronicle captured the issue perfectly when quoting the ICE spokesman: “ICE is targeting the worst of the worst criminal aliens, but all individuals who are in the country illegally are subject to arrest and removal.”

That single sentence reduces the complexity of our broken system to a cruel reality: a caring father of U.S. citizens is treated no differently than the “worst of the worst.😟” 

Such indiscriminate enforcement does not make Houston safer; rather, it destabilizes our community. Luis is not a hardened criminal. For his family’s sake, and for the good of our city, he deserves a path to legal residency.

For decades, both political parties failed to deliver humane immigration reforms. Yet the solution is not new. The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, introduced nearly 20 years ago by Senators John McCain and Ted Kennedy, 

this bill passed in the Senate in 2006, with bipartisan support and the backing from President George W. Bush. 

Sadly, it was defeated in the House, dismissed as “amnesty.”

After twenty years of stalemate, perhaps the moment has finally arrived for leaders from both political sides to revive that legislation and work together, instead of tearing the country apart. 

If today’s misguided policies ultimately force lawmakers to act, then maybe something good can come from this failure.

From Derris Murphy, in Houston, Texas