President Donald Trump unveiled plans for a sensible immigration overhaul Thursday, and Democrats promptly assigned them to the ash bin of history.
Since it came from the president, if he'd opened the Southern border and declared all illegal immigrants already in the country to be American citizens, Democrats would have opposed it before realizing what he'd said.
They're that dead set against him.
But Trump, according to senior administration officials in a briefing with editors, hoped it might be seen as a good faith effort, a chance for Republicans to say regarding immigration what they're for rather than what they're against, and a chance for the GOP to rally around a common-sense immigration plan.
He should have known better.
Trump also should have known that any plan that didn't mention the so-called "Dreamers" or the other 12 million illegal immigrants in the country wouldn't be given a sniff by Democrats.
They'll take their chances on electing one of their own president in 2020, thank you.
In a sensible world, such a policy overhaul - put together by presidential son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner and members of Trump's domestic policy team - would be welcomed since it modernizes a system in place since the 1960s.
The overhaul has two main aims - securing the border and a new, merit-based legal immigration plan.
We won't rehash Trump's - and the American people's - concerns about a porous Southern border because they've been well-documented. Democrats, to date, have shown little concern about the crisis, but the senior administration officials believe some of them are beginning to come around.
What is worth mentioning is the part of the plan that strengthens U.S. ports of entry because White House officials say Democrats previously voiced support for doing that.
Modernizing the infrastructure at ports and airports is seen not only as a way to curb human trafficking but also to halt the flow of drugs and counterfeit goods. The administration believes the modernization could be paid for - and sustained - by charging unspecified fees.
The second major aim is to move legal immigration from a family-based approach to a merit-based, skills-based approach, similar to systems in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Currently, about 66 percent of immigrants get green cards because of family ties and about 12 percent based on skills. The president's plan seeks to nearly reverse that, though it would not decrease the total number of green cards allowed.
It would focus on more highly educated, highly skilled immigrants and, according to the officials, would allow immigrants from a wider range of countries than from the current select few. Applicants would receive points toward eligibility based on criteria such as age, English proficiency, offer of employment, health screening, criminal background check and results on a civics test.
Such a system, they said, has the potential to have a positive effect on economic growth, generate more jobs and more tax revenue, and cost less in social welfare programs.
Although it would likely scale back chain migration, where one immigrant who becomes a citizen sponsors another who sponsors another who sponsors another, it protects immediate family members.
Australia, according to the senior administration officials, hasn't had a recession in 27 years in part because of its smart immigration system, which is based on employment.
Kushner and those who put the plan together studied best practices around the globe and believe a points system would work for the U.S.
The plan, depending on the source, either was well received or received a mixed reaction when presented to Republican senators earlier this week. The senior administration officials, not surprisingly, said it had been very well received. Any other description was inaccurate, they said.
News articles before Trump's Thursday announcement called the plan a starting point, and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said it was not designed to become law. A bill he introduced this week, which the administration officials said the White House supported, would close loopholes to end asylum claims from Central American made at the U.S. border and would return unaccompanied minors to their home countries.
But administration officials pushed back on thoughts the plan might only be a starting point. Asked what in the plan the president would fight hardest to keep, they said none of the pieces were less important than the others and that both the tenets of securing the border and the merit-based immigration system were necessary.
Before Trump even announced it, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, called the plan a nonstarter, and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it "condescending."
Democrats and Republicans should be able to separate legal and illegal immigration and debate the plan's merits, but we have our doubts that will happen.