ArcaMax

Both camps are wrong. We can't treat all these people the same. We need to sift through the population and deport, for instance, the bad actors who have criminal convictions for violent crimes but not the housekeepers who mean no harm and simply want to provide for their children.

That's common sense, which explains why you don't hear this sort of thing in proposals coming from Washington -- a place where common sense goes to die.

I would just as soon not defend Trump, especially on immigration. But it doesn't seem fair for the media to be so quick to label as a "flip-flop" what could just be the separate elements of a balanced approach. After all, President Obama has deported a record number of people while still using executive action to spare others that fate.

If you listen closely to what Trump has said about immigration since he launched his campaign, you'll see he wants to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, keep out immigrants who have sinister motives for entering the United States, make it easier for well-intentioned immigrants to come legally, and deport those with criminal records before they do more harm.

Now, Trump may have added a new piece to the puzzle: creating -- for some of the undocumented but not all -- a path to earned legal status or citizenship.

The media might be able to improve their batting average on the immigration issue, and figure out that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this complicated problem, if only they would give Trump something they're determined to deny him: a fair hearing.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.

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