Florida leaders should back bipartisan immigration plan | EDITORIAL

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators worked day after day for four months to arrive at a plan for the border. It’s been 40 years since Congress attempted comprehensive reform of our immigration system, so this genuine attempt at a partial fix at least, requiring compromise on both sides of the aisle, represented substantive progress.

What’s more, the plan that evolved would unlock the military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan that the Republican Party has held hostage. Europe’s borders and Israel’s could be buttressed, lives could be spared and horrible suffering relieved from autocrats and terrorists abroad. In our hemisphere, the U.S. would take a more humane approach toward the tired, poor, huddled masses at our southern borders, rather than treating them like wretched refuse and cruelly denying refuge.

Yet once again, mature, diplomatic efforts to resolve these crises have been cast aside for craven politics. And our Florida representatives have not hesitated to plunge right into this swamp.

Florida is a state that more than most should understand the importance of holding doors open to strangers in need. And yet its Republican leaders, after calling for change and being offered much of what they demanded, instead stood back and stood by, at the beck and call of the Mar-a-Lago man who stands for nothing or no one more than himself.

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Not to be outdone and desperate to regain relevance, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has swapped his figurative Martha’s Vineyard pilot’s cap for a general’s cap,  announcing deployment of up to 1,000 Florida National Guard and Florida State Guard members to the Texas border with Mexico, “to stop the invasion.” Last we checked, Florida had no border with Texas or Mexico but apparently somebody still wants to be Commander-in-Chief – of something, anything.

While that war rages, DeSantis hangs back safely behind the lines, to oversee such strategy sessions as a manatee appreciation event in Volusia County.

It would be more ridiculous if these theatrics weren’t an open invitation to actual danger, in joining Texas’ wannabe troops threatening a face-off with the federal forces constitutionally charged with border protection.

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At least at the Volusia County event, the Governor was engaged in topics of relevance to Florida: manatee rescue and environmental restoration. There’s plenty of work to be done on those scores and a governor’s attention can make a difference. And there are plenty of other Florida issues that need urgent attention, too, from soaring home and health insurance rates to climate resilience.

But by engaging instead in racist gerrymandering, LGBTQ-baiting, book banning, academic independence dismantling and other cultural battlefronts and borderline silliness, we sap time and energy from solving real problems that cause tremendous pain every day we delay. And some of that gameplaying comes with nationwide and global consequences.

The immigration plan hammered out by the senators doesn’t pretend to cure the crush of humanity at our doorstep. But it does provide significant improvements to alleviate the immediate crisis.

Among many other provisions, as highlighted by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.:

• It lets the President temporarily stop processing asylum claims but only between the ports of entry during periods of abnormally high crosses.

• It reforms the asylum approval system so that claims are heard in six months, not 10 years, a vast improvement for immigrants but that also reduces an incentive for people with invalid claims to show up thinking they’ll be able to stay for years pending a hearing.

• It gives near-immediate work permits to asylum seekers.

• And it provides a pathway for citizenship for “Documented Dreamers,” the kids of H1B visa holders who under current law can be deported when they turn 21.

In short, it goes a long way toward providing the border protections and judicial improvements sought by those on both sides of the aisle who are serious about resolving the hardships that failure to address the problem has only exacerbated.

If only a certain ex-President of German extraction, while sipping Colombian coffee served by South African workers at Mar-a-Lago, would give it a thought. If only a certain Governor would stop posturing and advocate for it. If only Florida’s legislative delegation would stand on its own feet and not theirs.

Yeah, we know: It's an election year. So, where were they when it wasn't?

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Bipartisan immigration plan merits urgent approval