Abby McCloskey, Dallas Morning News, February 1, 2024

Immigration is 2024′s biggest issue. Except for potential world war, but that’s for another day. What a win a deal on the southern border would be. Let’s start with what it means for the presidential election and then move closer to home.

With abortion off the table after the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, immigration has become the biggest visceral issue for the GOP in 2024. Donald Trump is building his campaign around it. We can’t have a secure country without a secure border. Republicans are right about that.

Immigration denial could cost Biden re-election. Fortunately, Americans love a good conversion story. “I was lost and now I’m found.” And a bipartisan Congressional deal has come knocking on Biden’s door, combining aid for the Ukrainians in their defense against the Russian invasion and money for border security.

Biden should take the deal and pronounce, over the progressive howls, that securing the border will be the focus of his domestic attention for the rest of 2024. In fact, he should ask for Democrats to strengthen the deal. The current negotiated threshold is that it would only kick in if 5,000 migrants crossed illegally in a day.

For a re-election campaign still searching for its message, voila: “I kept a demagogue out of the White House, fought Putin from invading the West, oversaw a soft landing for the economy (despite my role in the inflationary part), and finally shut down the southern border.” Close your eyes and it’s practically conservative.