Best of Right Opinion

• Rich Lowry: Durbin-Graham Is the Problem, Not the Solution
• Hans von Spakovsky: UVA Betrays the Legacy of Its Founder, Thomas Jefferson
• David Limbaugh: Hollywood’s Secular Clerics
• Marvin J. Folkertsma: Carol Burnett and the Ferguson Effect
• Rebecca Hagelin: Working to End Black Genocide

For more of today’s columns, visit Right Opinion.

Opinion in Brief

Rich Lowry: “The basic, problematic physics of immigration deal-making remains unchanged: Illegal immigrants receive some sort of legal status immediately, while any new enforcement, whether a wall or other systems (say, E-Verify for employers), inevitably phases in over time. Immigration hawks are rightfully mindful of this disparity given the long history of broken promises on enforcement. The worry is especially stark with Trump’s wall. It would be a massive government infrastructure project, with all the potential for delays and cost overruns that implies. This is why the shrewd play for the Democrats is to complain and resist, and then at the end make a theatrical concession on the wall. Schumer did exactly this prior to the government shutdown. For Trump’s part, the opposite is true. He’d be smart to insist on his wall above all else, and then at the end, reluctantly accept other priorities. The wall won’t be a game-changer at the border, where security has already become more robust; in fact, absent more resources for immigration authorities and tightened rules around asylum and the influx of migrants arriving from Central America, it might not make much difference. That’s why Trump should focus on getting those changes, as well as an end of the visa lottery and a curtailment of chain migration. These would represent the first real tightening of legal immigration in decades.”