Schiff: Trump can go down in history by pushing immigration reform | Opinion
President Donald Trump has an opportunity to do something that historians will remember positively.
The megalomaniac, however, would have to accomplish an achievement that has evaded generations of presidents and politicians from both sides of the aisle: Comprehensive immigration reform.
Even U.S Sen. Adam Schiff of California, a nemesis of the president ever since he led the first House impeachment of Trump, believes he can get on the good side.
“I did have a conversation with one of my Republican colleagues who is considered a Trump whisperer,” Schiff told the McClatchy California Editorial Boards in Fresno last Friday. Schiff suggested his colleague “tell the president that he can do something no president has done in decades. He can be the one to actually solve this problem.”
Schiff, who responded to a question about the viability of immigration reform amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented and documented immigrants, said Trump “can be the Nixon who goes to China.”
“Maybe appeal to his vanity,” Schiff proposed. “I don’t know whether this message will ever be conveyed, but the last president who I think made a very determined effort to bring about a sensible solution to all this was George W. Bush.”
Former President Richard Nixon set American politics afire when he went to China in 1972, setting up new relations with the communist nation.
I remember Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox reached a deal on immigration in September 2001 that would implement a temporary worker program and find a way to provide legal status for undocumented Mexicans in the U.S. A few days later, the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center and other sites dashed those hopes.
“That was the closest we’ve come since I’ve been involved in politics. Sadly, I think we’ve moved farther and farther away from that,” said Schiff.
Politics and immigration reform
When President Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration and Reform Act in 1986, the landmark legislation was hailed as a breakthrough. It legalized undocumented immigrants who had lived in the U.S. before 1982, gave agricultural workers legal status, and imposed penalties for those who knowingly hired undocumented workers.
About 2.7 million undocumented residents took the steps to become naturalized citizens. A decade later, people were asking for similar legislation because the undocumented flow continued, employers complained they were not properly trained to spot forged documents, and the undocumented population grew from 2 million in 1980 to 3.5 million in 1990 and 8.5 million in 2000.
In February 2005, I braved unseasonably cold weather to attend a press conference at the United Farm Workers office in Fresno, where then-President Arturo Rodríguez joined farm industry giants like Barry Bedwell of the California Grape and Tree Fruit League to signal unified support for the AgJOBS bill. The proposal would have guaranteed a functional guest worker program and legal status for ag workers.
That failed, but it didn’t keep various versions of the bill, including the 2021 and 2023 Farm Workforce Modernization Act, from resurfacing to similar results.
Since 2015, there have been 309 immigration-related bills introduced, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Earlier this month, San Joaquin Valley Reps. Jim Costa (D-Fresno), David Valadao (R-Hanford) and Adam Gray (D-Merced) threw their weight behind a new version of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.
The bipartisan measure is needed to assure farmers of a reliable workforce, said Valadao, who co-sponsored the bill in the 117th Congress and co-lead it in 2023.
“If President Trump is serious about fixing our broken immigration system, he should work with us to get this bill across the finish line,” said Costa in a statement.
Odds aren’t that great
Despite the bipartisan support of the latest immigration reform bill, it’s a long shot for an immigration reform bill to reach Trump’s desk for his signature unless people close to him convince him it would be good for him and the country.
The biggest obstacle now is the White House’s all-out war against the immigrant community.
“I think immigration and migration are really the fulcrum of this administration’s focus, their policy and their priority,” said Schiff. “Those (deportation) flights aren’t going to have a major impact on immigration, but they are designed to create a climate of fear.
“That’s not the environment conducive to having a discussion about a comprehensive approach to immigration.”
Trump would have to be persuaded by those close to him that achieving immigration reform is good for American business. We know that in Fresno. In the heart of California’s agricultural industry, having more legal workers would provide a steady workforce to fill the jobs California needs. Having more legal workers would require enhanced identification methods that could, if done correctly, make it easier to separate legal workers from undocumented ones. Trump could make history.
When Reagan died in 2004, among those who showed up at Fresno’s Mariposa Mall downtown to pay their respects were representatives of the Oaxacan community.
Madera school worker Timoteo Mendoza was at the memorial. “He helped me by passing the immigration law,” said Mendoza, who became a legal resident because of the bill. “He was a great president. In reality, he helped our community.”
Nearly 2.7 million people got legal status under IRCA, and more than 1.1 million became naturalized by the end of 2009, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
If only Trump focused his attention on creating an effective immigration system that would provide American businesses with a stable workforce, eliminate the need for illegal entry into this country, and reduce the need for beefed-up border enforcement.
This is his one big chance to do something that predecessors George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden all failed to do.
Will Trump have the guts?
This story was originally published May 29, 2025 at 5:30 AM.