Here’s what Trump should say in his immigration speech

After months of ignoring good advice to dispense with heavy-handed immigration policies that are both impractical and unpopular with the American electorate, GOP nominee Donald Trump is reportedly pivoting on immigration. Of course, with precious weeks remaining before Election Day and Trump sliding in the polls, the pivot comes across as disingenuous.

{mosads}Still, if Trump is serious about being our next commander-in-chief and wants to be seen as a serious presidential candidate, pivoting on immigration is both good policy and good politics.

For starters, most Americans are supportive of immigrants and immigration. Most Americans know that this country is a land deeply rooted in the immigrant experience. Most Americans have one or multiple relatives that immigrated entering through Ellis Island.

But beyond that, immigrants are also contributing to our country’s shared prosperity. The numbers bear this out, as evidenced in a recent study that found that immigrant entrepreneurs launched 28.5 percent of all new businesses in 2014, up from 25.9 percent a year earlier. Numbers like these seem to confirm the thinking that immigrants are natural risk-takers making the best from living in a country of abundant opportunity.

A businessman like Trump should know this and support this grit from people willing to leave their families and cultures behind to scratch out a living here in the United States.

Unfortunately, Trump has been spending the better part of his time on the national stage bashing immigrants, embracing nativists, and supporting costly plans to secure our border and deport undocumented immigrants haphazardly. Trump is right to call for greater enforcement of our immigration laws, but he must also propose policies supportive of immigrant labor.

These ideas are far from progressive. In fact, when one considers the price tag to round up the approximately 12 million to 15 million undocumented workers and the cost to build a wall along the U.S.–Mexico border, the proposition quickly becomes prohibitively costly.

Of course, beyond the dollars and cents, Trump’s earlier calls to deport the undocumented immigrant population are deeply inhumane. Millions of families would be separated in the process. This is a far cry for the party championing the family structure and the sanctity of life.

However, this does not mean that Trump should simply embrace the Democratic Party’s platform on immigration at face value. For starters, Democrats have been apprehensive about calling for increased deportation for immigrants that have committed serious crimes in our country for fear of upsetting the most radical voices in the immigration lobby. Trump should not walk away from this commonsense idea.

But he must balance this tough talk by affirming the core values of our immigration system grounded on the idea of shared values, not shared ethnicity or religion. Values grounded in self-government, personal responsibility and hard work.

Trump is right to call out for immigrants who share in our values. But it is foolhardy to institute a litmus test. There are ways policymakers can craft a fair and sensible vetting process to attract those immigrants truly seeking to become Americans and write the next chapter in our American story without violating civil liberties.

To do all of this, Trump should channel the great President Ronald Reagan, who understood the concept of immigration far better than most of his contemporaries. In his farewell speech, Reagan described what the gates of that shining city upon a hill meant: “And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here.”

This is a message that has broad appeal and may help convince undecided American voters that Donald Trump is a serious candidate with serious ideas. It’s not too late.

Ortega is a senior writer for Opportunity Lives, an online news publication. Follow him on Twitter @IzzyOrtega.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.