‘My fellow Democratic candidates are falling for Trump’s distractions. I’m not’ | Opinion

The clashes over immigration in the presidential debates may make for good television, but they don’t make good policy. The way in which most of my competitors for the Democratic nomination have approached the issue of immigration is contrary to both common sense and the goal of achieving meaningful reform. This is an unfortunate pattern on a range of issues that, if continued, could hand the worst president in our nation’s history a second term in office.

A new term has been introduced into the popular lexicon. “Section 1325,” now one of the better known provisions of Title 8 of the U.S. Code, provides that unauthorized entry into the United States is a crime. Most of my fellow Democratic candidates for president have followed Julian Castro’s lead in saying that Section 1325 should be repealed. While their intentions for taking this position are admirable, their logic leaves much to be desired. This may be where the perspective of the only candidate in the race who has served as both a mayor and governor is different from that of a legislator.

Members of Congress deliver speeches and lend their names to legislation; governors have to deliver results and solve problems. It’s a fundamentally different approach. Senators and representatives measure their progress by “outputs” — bills filed or enacted, points scored in a debate. As governors, we define success differently, focusing on outcomes. And those outcomes almost always require a combination of policy, politics, relentless implementation and coalition building.

Let me discuss that last one, coalition building. Defining the important issue of immigration in terms of Section 1325 not only is largely a distraction, it also is counter-productive. It ignores the need to rally the majority of Americans who support a humane immigration policy around common-sense immigration reform.

We need to be clear about our priorities: Americans overwhelmingly oppose President Trump’s unconscionable separation of children from their families. They also support by nearly two-thirds a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who are in the United States illegally.

But here’s the rub: Americans also oppose by 2-1 decriminalizing illegal immigration. If we keep our eye on the prize, we can work with that super majority of Americans to build a coalition that can bring real immigration reform across the finish line and end Trump’s immoral practices.

The other problem with the rush to decriminalize unauthorized entry in this country is that it’s missing the problem. The problem is not a law that makes it a misdemeanor to enter the United States. Every nation has the right, and obligation, to secure its borders. The problem is the occupant in the White House. We cannot decriminalize enough conduct to address the problem of a president and commander in chief who is determined to abuse his power, ignore the law and sow the seeds of racial and ethnic animosity.

Previous presidents, from both parties, have not used federal immigration law to routinely separate thousands of children from their families. They have not used federal immigration law to create a humanitarian crisis at the border, or deny legitimate claims of asylum from being adjudicated. In fact, Trump now claims that his inhumane treatment of immigrants doesn’t even depend on Section 1325, that he can engage in this reprehensible behavior on grounds independent of that provision.

This is another example of Trump’s execrable politics of distraction that too many of my Democratic colleagues have fallen for — and with alarming consistency.

As Democrats, we should be talking about how Trump, , by any objective measure, has made our borders and our nation less secure. We should be talking about how his tariffs are costing every household in America on average more than $800 and threaten to cost each household more than $2,300 if all of his threatened tariffs are enacted. We should be talking about how the air we breathe is less clean in many regions of the nation, thanks to his assault on the Environmental Protection Agency.

How we are on the verge of another nuclear-arms race thanks to Trump’s unilateral and reckless withdrawal from the INF treaty. How our nation’s middle class is being hurt by his singular focus on tax breaks for the wealthy. How he would take away the hard-fought protections achieved under the Affordable Care Act, like protecting you or your loved one facing a life-threatening illness from being denied insurance because you have a “pre-existing condition.”

This is the battle we must wage against the current occupant of the White House. If we are focused and disciplined, we can activate the overwhelming majority of Americans who reject Trump’s assault on our laws and our nation’s institutions, including our precious legacy of secure boarders combined with a humane immigration policy.

John Hickenlooper, seeking the Democratic nomination for president, was governor of Colorado from 2011-2019. He wrote this exclusively for the Miami Herald.

This story was originally published August 6, 2019 at 6:45 PM.