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Meeting, handshake and business people with deal in office for funding approval and success.

Four Reds and four Blues reached unanimous Points of Agreement on immigration, then presented them to Reps. Fitzpatrick and Suozzi. Here’s how it worked.

Jacob Wackerhausen/Getty Images

On Immigration, Common Ground May Be Closer Than We Think

Immigration has become one of the issues pulling Americans apart. Earlier this month, at a constituent conversation in Bristol, Pennsylvania, I watched eight Americans with very different political views offer a glimpse of how it does not have to stay that way.

Four “Reds” and four “Blues” — terms used for participants on the political right and left — sat across from Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.), the Republican and Democratic co-chairs of the House Problem Solvers Caucus, to present something increasingly unusual in our politics: unanimous Points of Agreement on immigration developed through an earlier Common Ground Workshop.

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Visitor at the reflecting pools to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center

A visitor pauses at the reflecting pools to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center at the National 9/11 Memorial & Museum on September 11, 2026, in New York City.

(Photo by Jeenah Moon - Pool/Getty Images)

The Moral Distance Between Our Dead and Theirs

Last month, I watched the ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of September 11.

I listened as family members read the names of the dead. Children and grandchildren talked about people whose absence still shapes their lives. Nearly 3,000 people were killed that morning. At the 9/11 Memorial, they are remembered as individuals.

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​A sign directs pedestrians towards the United States in Tijuana, Mexico. A person walks in the foreground.

A sign directs pedestrians towards the United States on January 16, 2019 in Tijuana, Mexico.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Immigration, Borders, and Belonging: Toward a More Honest Conversation

This week, Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won nearly 44 percent of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt, more than twice the Christian Democrats’ share and the AfD’s strongest state-election result. Anti-immigration sentiment and nationalism helped drive the campaign.

I first visited Germany in 1986 and have returned many times. Career-related assignments have repeatedly taken me to the Netherlands and Austria as well. Through four decades of travel and conversations with ordinary Europeans, I have noticed a marked change since 2016. Over the past decade, concerns about immigration have surfaced more frequently, not only in Germany but across Europe.

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People, diversity or meeting with hands together for unity,

A personal 9/11 reflection on American resilience — how ordinary kindness, community, and quiet strength endure amid political noise and division.

Jacob Wackerhausen/Getty Images

America’s Quiet Strength: Rising Above Power, Chaos and Cruelty

As Americans look back on 9/11 in this 250th year, we remember a nation shaken — yet rising, again and again. America is cracked, but Americans are not broken. Our resilience is the quiet force holding this country together.

Today, we find ourselves in a moment thick with noise — global conflicts, corruption, rising prices, healthcare struggles, and political division designed to exhaust us. Every day brings a new headline, a new crisis, a new attempt to distract or divide. The chaos, fatigue, and uncertainty are real. Yet even in this noisy, chaotic time, Americans continue to rise — not because life is easy, but because rising is who we are.

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