Jelly Roll is right. Whether it's fentanyl or immigration, Congress must work together

Immigration and border security are issues that will determine the outcome of the 2024 elections.

A recent exclusive USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll shows that for the first presidential primary election in New Hampshire coming Tuesday, the issue is the top concern for Republicans and the second most important priority for Democrats, after securing the future of democracy, which is also the top concern for Independents.

It is not just a U.S.-Mexico border issue anymore either even though the number of unauthorized border crossings has increased substantially over the years, from 1.73 million people in 2021 to 2.45 million in 2023, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Blue cities such as Chicago and New York are struggling with how to care for busloads of migrants coming to them from the red states of Texas and Florida.

Immigration alarmism is not a solution. Compromise is needed.

Tennessee U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Brentwood, won her 2018 race in part by warning against migrant caravans coming to the U.S. from Central America.

On Jan. 13, she posted on X, formerly known as Twitter this simple message: “We can never make illegal immigration legal,” which is likely in response to negotiations for border security funding talks in Congress.

But if the U.S. is seriously going to address the issues that stem from immigration and border concerns, leaders need to work together and offer solutions that address the various facets of the things that concern Americans:

• National security and border integrity

• Unauthorized immigration

• Workforce needs

• Healthy population growth

• Illicit drug trade

• Humanitarian responsibilities

They are not all one and the same, and it’s not as simple as a building a wall or denying citizenship to undocumented immigrants.

They require different approaches and compromise among congressional leaders.

Jelly Roll makes a powerful call to action to Congress

On Jan. 11, Grammy Award-nominated country music superstar Jelly Roll testified before a U.S. Senate committee, which Tennessee’s junior senator, Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Gallatin, sits on.

He delivered impassioned testimony on legislation to stop the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. because he has seen so many people in his life get addicted or die as a result of the synthetic drug. There are nearly 200 fentanyl deaths a day in the U.S. – and it is the leading cause of overdose deaths in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A former drug dealer who said he once worked to bring his community down, Jelly Roll now said he wants to be part of the solution and issued this important plea:

“Fentanyl transcends partisanship and ideology … if we don’t talk to the other side of Capitol Hill and stop the demand, we’re going to spin our tires in the mud. You are all taking the first step and I encourage you take it outside of this room and you take it to your colleagues and your constituents and you give them the most that you can.”

Thank you, Jelly Roll.

This is an approach that should also apply to how the United States addresses immigration.

The foreign-born population is growing in the U.S.

The U.S. needs immigrants to continue a healthy population growth and meet workforce demands.

There are presently 43 million immigrants living in the U.S., or about 13.9% of the population. The foreign born population will likely rise to 15% by the end of this year, according to a Jan. 11 story from USA TODAY based on U.S. Census data.

That number is significant because, as reporter Lauren Villagran noted, the last time the number was around that high in 1910, Congress responded with aggressive nativist, anti-immigration and fear mongering legislation.

We should not let history repeat itself again, especially if we believe, as former President Ronald Reagan did, that America is a shining city on a hill.

Reagan signed the last significant immigration reform legislation in the U.S. in the 1980s, which provided a path to citizen for nearly 3 million new Americans.

Congress has avoided action over the last two decades under Democratic and Republican presidential administrations.

Tennessee politicians are aware of filling workforce needs because in 2022, state lawmakers approved bipartisan legislation allowing recipients of the Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, to obtain professional and commercial licenses.

Court rulings over the Trump administration ending DACA having resulted in the program no longer accepting new applicants.

That means the ball is now in Congress’s court to do something.

Demographic shifts are leading to opportunity and pushback

Tennessee, through Senators Blackburn and Hagerty, and also Rep. Mark Green, R-Clarksville, who chairs the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee, are in positions of power and influence to offer meaningful ideas that will results in bettering the lives of Americans, meeting employers’ needs, and keeping people safe.

An important thing is not to paint all immigrants with one brush because everyone has a unique story.

I recently finished reading “Our Migrant Souls” by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author and academic Héctor Tobar, which shares a few of those stories of trying to seek a better opportunity in America to escape war, gangs, drugs and poverty – not to wreak havoc on the lives of Americans.

The demographic shifts that are happening in America are leading to an increasingly multiracial society.

That fact, sadly, has led to racist violence against Americans such as the hate-fueled mass shooting by a white supremacist in El Paso, Texas in 2019 that left 23 Latino Americans dead.

This rise in hate crimes and racially motivated violence must also be one of the solutions Congress addresses.

Jelly Roll is right. Issues like these transcend partisanship and ideology, and they will only remain challenges for whoever is elected president and to Congress in 2024 if our politicians kick the can down the road once again.

David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee. He is an editorial board member of The Tennessean. He hosts the Tennessee Voices videocast and curates the Tennessee Voices and Latino Tennessee Voices newsletters.. Call him at (615) 259-8063, email him at dplazas@tennessean.com or tweet to him at @davidplazas.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Fixing US border is complex, but Congress can't keep ignoring it