Rishi P. Oza
By Rishi P. Oza
From his inception as a presidential candidate in 2016, President Donald Trump’s defining political issue has always been immigration. He has used the issue as a hammer, constantly beating a narrative of invasion and fear of foreigners, which isn’t new to America’s political discourse (see the Chinese Exclusion Act, anti-Irish sentiment of the 19th century and Japanese internment during World War II).
His willingness, though, to tackle immigration holistically may have lasting consequences to America’s economic and political future. For better or worse, his legacy may be tied entirely to his ability to find a solution to one of the country’s most complex and problematic political issues.
On one hand, the Trump Administration has unabashedly sought to ramp up deportation efforts, which have left immigrant communities anxious and often terrified of imminent removal. The Administration has argued that it is correcting not only the aimless border policy of the previous Biden Administration, but years of lax enforcement.
The newly passed “Big Beautiful Bill” pumps in $150+ billion into the US Department of Homeland Security, which officials have stated will be used to hire more officers to help speed deportations and build more detention facilities to house those in removal proceedings. By physically detaining individuals subject to removal proceedings, the Administration will likely speed up deportations – detained individuals are much less likely to pursue weak asylum claims or appeal unfavorable decisions compared to those individuals that are non-detained.
Detained cases are placed on a “rocket docket”, which ensures that hearings are scheduled within weeks, not months and years, which is more common for non-detained cases.
Despite his pronouncements, Trump’s current policy is not particularly different than his predecessor, but time may tell a different overall story.
While he may be trying to clean up a problem that has befuddled previous administrations, focusing solely on deportations does little to solve America’s underlying immigration problem. For years, American employers have struggled with an exceedingly tight labor market and many sectors that depend on migrant labor are now beginning to feel the pinch.
Construction, hospitality and the restaurant industry have come to rely on immigrant labor to function, which is the result of America’s outdated immigration code. Currently, employers in these industries or those seeking blue collar labor are left to rely almost exclusively on the H-2B program, which allows for the issuance of 66,000 visas per year for seasonal, intermittent or one-time need labor.
Farmworkers are eligible for H-2A visas, which are also capped on an annual basis.
This is a tiny number compared to what is needed nationwide and with Americans largely eschewing the work in these sectors, employers are left with only bad options – hire individuals that are willing to work, but have no status and face the possible risk of high fines and government punishment or decline work and hurt their business due to the lack of available help.
This has played out nationwide but crystalized in my mind on a recent Saturday morning when I visited a popular neighborhood restaurant with my family. The restaurant, which has been open for only about two years specializes in traditional American breakfast fare and is highly popular, often with people waiting 20 – 30 minutes to be seated.
Waiting to be seated is nothing new in popular restaurants, but it was strange given that the restaurant’s tables were only about two-thirds full, again not due to a lack of customers.
In speaking with the exasperated owner, she mentioned that she had to intentionally leave tables empty and asked customers to wait to be seated, as she simply could not find the necessary cooks and dishwashers to run at full capacity. Staffing shortages left her with a kitchen that couldn’t keep up with a full restaurant and she hated the idea that she had a restaurant where people wanted to spend money and she simply could not take advantage.
She said that she paid strong wages compared to other restaurants in the area, but that everyone was suffering due to a simple lack of available manpower.
She frustratingly has a successful business that cannot reach its full potential due to a nonsensical immigration policy.
Many in the Republican party have indicated that they have been unwilling to address the plight of the 20 – 25 million individuals already in the US until the country’s border problem has been addressed. In about six months, illegal border crossings have dropped precipitously, which should reasonably create the necessary space for immigration reform.
Thus far, Trump has made no mention of changing the current law and without it he will be slowly starving an economy in need of help.
After seeing through his enforcement surge, he would be smart to pivot to a “One Big Beautiful Immigration Bill” that combines an expanded guest-worker visa program alongside a pathway to legalize those individuals already in the United States, while also reforming current asylum laws.
Most migrants come to the US for the promise of a better life but can only obtain valid work permits by applying for asylum, which bogs down the system with millions of poor (and sometimes fictitious) claims.
By making it easier for individuals to obtain work visas lawfully, President Trump will simultaneously reduce the desire to enter unlawfully or file a flimsy asylum claim, as an abundance of work visas would incentivize legal entry.
One should note that Congress had the opportunity to remedy some of these issues in 2024, but a bill written by Democrats and Republicans in the Senate failed, due in large part to Trump’s desire to avoid giving then-President Biden a political victory.
Congress bears a significant amount of responsibility to our current failed immigration policy, as it has failed to properly update a code that was written for an America from the 1990s and not one from 2025.
Political courage seems to come in very, very small doses these dates.
Furthermore, by providing a pathway for the millions in the US without status, the administration can also move to lock in a new generation of voters.
Trump can look to President Ronald Reagan’s immigration reform in the 1980s as a model, which legalized millions of individuals, many of whom became lifelong Republicans. To do so, he must be willing to expand his vision beyond just deportations, which alone will do little to help keep America competitive in an ever-challenging global economy.
By extending an open hand to entrenched immigrant communities instead of just a fist of deportations, he can usher in a changed political dynamic that will outlast him. Whether he has the courage and will to take on such a challenge remains to be seen.
Rishi P. Oza is Partner at Brown Immigration Law, a firm that focuses solely on immigration law; he practices in Durham. Contact: roza@rbrownllc.com
