I've been in an extremely deep funk for the last two years
You and me both, my friend. I’m not sure if you’re religiously affiliated at all, but for me as someone who was raised as an evangelical it is a double whammy to see my former party selling out alongside my denomination. Trump and everything he stands for is the polar opposite of what Christ taught. I breaks my heart to see my Southern Baptist family members posting things like “just a reminder, heaven has an immigration polcy and a wall!”
Sometimes I feel very alone and isolated ideologically and I have still not figured out how to deal with this situation.
Partisans like to present issues in ways that make the issue divisive.
Conservatives love to toss in moral condemnations whenever possible. So it is not just enough to say that our immigration system is overloaded. Conservatives always toss in moral condemnation of the immigrants to show their disdain.
Progressives are more annoying and are actually dangerous as they seek to radicalize immigration. La Raza (the Race) calls mass immigration from South America "La Reconcista." Progressive professors babble about how "the browning of America" will lead to an unending Democratic super majority that will finally bring about socialism.
Radicalized immigration has the potential to become violent.
I think the best way to discuss immigration is to look at the numbers. The numbers show that the US is taking in millions of immigrants each year and we appear to be straining the social structures to absorb immigrants.
Unfortunately, it is also necessary to look at the cause of the immigration. When there are powerful political groups behind a mass immigration, people should question that migration.
When one sees organized groups moving people about en masse, one should question the group. For example, imagine a big company bringing in a thousand workers to bust a union. This group is doing something negative.
Several NGOs appear to be engaged in human trafficking.
To create a sane immigration system our government needs detailed reporting on the number of immigrants, the reason for the migration and there should be greater scrutiny of the groups profiting from this mass immigration.
Unfortunately, partisans don't like presenting facts. Both sides simply seek to present information in ways that make partisan opponents look bad.
A case in point is the slew of complaints about separating parents from children. Many of these policies were set in the Obama years. The Obama administration encouraged parents to send their children across the border as "unaccompanied minors" with the idea that the kids would be accepted by DACA and become anchors for the parents. The Trump Administration was simply running with the system that was created by the left.
Our immigration debate is run by partisans that seek to make the immigration issue as contentious as possible. The politics is disgusting.