ArcaMax

SAN DIEGO -- The U.S. presidency is like a high-stakes poker game. And for President Donald Trump, immigration is his ace in the hole.

Even when he doesn't have the cards, or when his chip stacks are short, the public's animosity toward the foreign-born keeps him in the game.

According to a new poll by Pew Research Center, Americans have more confidence in Trump's ability to make good decisions about immigration (48% "very confident" or "somewhat confident") than they do is his ability to handle other issues including trade (45%), the economy (45%), foreign policy (44%) or a public health crisis (45%).

It's likely that many Americans trust in Trump's ability to navigate immigration because they agree with the course that he has charted. Trump's North Star is his belief that there are too many foreign-born people in the United States and we need to get rid of them.

Panicked by migration from what Trump calls "shit hole countries," MAGA wants to make America white again. To them, that's the road to greatness.

It's a tale as old as time. This bad blood between natives and newcomers dates back to the mid-1700s when Benjamin Franklin bashed German immigrants as inferior to the English.

And distinctions such as "legal" or "illegal" have nothing to do with it. Until the Immigration Act of 1924 established nationality quotas for migrants, the United States had -- with few exceptions -- what was basically an open-door policy.

Up until then, millions of migrants had come to the United States. And many of them -- from the Germans and Irish, to the Jews and Italians, to the Greeks and Armenians -- were subjected to nativist bigotry. The fact that these migrants came "legally" did not shield them from hatred, ignorance and prejudice advanced by malevolent forces such as the Know-Nothing Party, which flourished in the mid-1800s.

Like many of my fellow Mexican Americans, I survey the immigration debate from the middle of the road. One day, you're bashed by right-wingers who see you as a leftist Democrat who wants open borders. The next, you're asked to speak on a panel and give voice to the conservative, anti-immigrant position held by many Republicans.

Nevertheless, I fancy the center. It's where the truth is.

Here are 15 truths about immigration to anchor Americans as they navigate these choppy waters.

No. 1: America, the fabled land of immigrants, has always despised immigrants. No matter how they got here.

No. 2: Much of this animosity comes from the fact that immigrants make the native-born look entitled, lazy and soft.

No. 3: It is a lie that Americans have no beef with legal immigrants. For those who see the foreign-born as inferior, legal status doesn't matter.

No. 4: Legal immigrants are a target of nativist politicians, advocacy groups and bills cracking down on H-1B visas for high-tech workers.

No. 5: Immigration is not just an enforcement issue. It's an economic issue. U.S. employers need workers, and foreign workers need jobs.

No. 6: Anyone in the U.S. without permission -- because they overstayed a visa or crossed a border illegally -- is 100% deportable.

No. 7: Whether we should deport everyone who in the country illegally is a different question. The answer is: "No, we should not."

No. 8: For those who are deported, removal is punishment enough. We don't have to attack them or insult them on their way out the door.

No: 9: Those who should have an earned path to legal status include senior citizens who have lived in the United States most of their lives.

No. 10: Just because the United States can deport the undocumented doesn't mean that deportations are the way to fix a broken system.

No. 11: Illegal immigration is fueled by employers, employers, employers. Arrest those doing the hiring, and the problem goes away.

No. 12: Guest worker programs don't work. Employers often exploit the laborers, and "temporary" has a way of becoming permanent.

No. 13: If the White House sets a deportation goal (Trump is aiming for 1 million in his first year), it guarantees civil rights lawsuits.

No. 14: Both political parties have failed the American people when it comes to immigration, putting their own interests before the country's.

No 15: The essential ingredient in this dialogue is honesty. We can't fix the immigration system until we're honest about what broke it.

My fellow Americans, I hope that helps. If you're going to get so worked up over immigration, you ought to at least have a better understanding of it.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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