Both parties fail refugees -- and America along with them

Yet the political extremes are no more equipped, or inclined, to engage in much personal introspection.

Liberals have a lot of emotion invested in the narrative they've created over the years that claims they're better, more enlightened and more compassionate than conservatives; and if you challenge them on any of that by pointing out their indifference to the abuses committed just a few years ago by Barack Obama's administration, they'll come out swinging. They won't defend immigrants or refugees, but they will defend their pride.

Meanwhile, conservatives are advancing a narrative of their own and hoping images of brown-skinned foreigners entering the United States will scare people into voting for the GOP in November. Instead of offering a solution to the current crisis, Trump simply accuses Democrats of wanting an "open border" and being eager to -- as he recently told delegates at the Nevada Republican Party convention -- "let MS-13 all over our country."

The left needs to stop running away from recent history and accept that it only cares about refugees from Central America when it uses them as a club to bludgeon the right. Conservatives need to stop deflecting attention away from what Trump is doing wrong by pointing to earlier wrongs committed by Obama -- which, by the way, those same conservatives said nothing about at the time.

Whether Obama supporters will ever admit it or not, the 44th president was a restrictionist who resorted to racist imagery (the word "gang-banger" for instance) to facilitate massive numbers of deportations -- many without due process. On the border, he carried out many of the same abusive policies toward refugees as his successor, albeit more discreetly and less abrasively. He damaged our nation's reputation as a haven for the persecuted and picked on. Those are the facts.

Obama failed at the border, but at least he seemed to aspire to what he promised the American people: hope and change. All the GOP offers, when uninvited guests arrive at the front door, is terror and nightmares.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His daily podcast, "Navarrette Nation," is available through every podcast app.