This is the second in a series of three columns about immigration enforcement and reform. Click here for Part 1.

Barack Obama had a plan for comprehensive immigration reform, a legislative goal that eluded his predecessor as president, George W. Bush. He would first persuade Republicans to trust him by aggressively enforcing America's immigration laws.

It was a trade: enforcement for reform.

It didn't work. And the conservative backlash became part of a populist base, setting the stage for President Donald Trump's emphasis now only on aggressive enforcement through secret police-style paramilitary invading forces in American cities.

Now, Trump faces the backlash and the potential for a partial government shutdown, as public opinion in America has swung hard against his immigration overreach. That abusive approach could revive efforts at reforming how immigration laws are enforced.

This series of columns explores how America enforces immigration laws, and what happens when Congress tries to reform the process.

Bush called for reform in 2004 while campaigning for a second term, seeking to enhance border security but also bringing "illegal aliens out of the shadows" and creating a temporary worker program. He made that pitch during his 2007 State of the Union address to Congress, which never agreed on a package.

Doris Meissner, appointed as commissioner for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service by President Bill Clinton in 1993, told me the failures at reform during Bush's second term were driven by an "enforcement first" attitude and skepticism about prioritizing the upholding of immigration laws. That carried over with Obama.

"There was a broadly held view among lawmakers, and particularly skeptics, that the........

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