Immigration and border control are a couple of the most serious issues facing the U.S. The debate over how many legal immigrants should enter the country, how to improve the legal immigration process, who should be granted legal status, and how to address the folks who break the rules is never-ending.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of having the ‘answers’ to long-running questions like these be black and white. Some would say let everyone in. Others would say let no one in. Grant amnesty to every illegal immigrant, or deport them all back home. These options are the wrong fit for the U.S., and they’re definitely the wrong fit for Iowa.

The true solution, like everything in life, is going to be more complicated and requires leaders to work out common-sense solutions. That has obviously not been happening.

Let’s be clear. We need a secure border. Violent criminals should not be admitted and those who commit violent crimes after they are here should be deported. Iowans need and have the right to feel safe in their homes.

The questions we are facing are complicated by the reality of what’s happening in Iowa.

Iowa has an aging population. People are having fewer babies. If health care becomes better, if jobs paid better, if child care becomes more accessible and affordable – maybe that would turn the situation around. Our reality right now, though, is that Iowa’s aging population puts more pressure on government services because a greater percentage of our citizens rely on them. At the same time, we have fewer young people who fund and work to provide these services, a double whammy that has a strong potential to reduce the quality of life in our state.

The reality is that Iowa has alleviated some of these issues with immigration into the state. More than 7 percent of Iowa’s labor force is foreign-born. An estimated 20 percent of doctors in Iowa were born outside the United States.

Iowa has a history of helping immigrants, as evidenced by Republican Governor Robert Ray’s program to welcome immigrants from Southeast Asia, particularly Tai Dam people, who were fleeing from war in 1975.

Iowans are compassionate. We understand the human reality that people do what’s best for their families because that’s what we do ourselves. So, we understand when families choose to flee from violence and starvation to protect their family members and Iowans have been proud to help those folks in the past.

However, we need to keep our own borders safe and secure in order to protect our own families.

Banning all immigration would be a detriment to Iowa. Allowing the immigration of everyone who wished to cross our borders would also be a detriment to Iowa and to the country. Right now, the path to legal immigration takes too long and costs too much money. The solution must be found in the middle. We need a solution that acknowledges our aging population, allows us to provide a safe haven for those who truly need it, fills the need for younger people in the workforce, streamlines and lowers the cost of legal immigration, and recognizes and celebrates the contributions immigrants have already made and will continue to make to our communities and state.

It’s nonsense that Democrats want to open up the border and let undocumented citizens access programs like SNAP and Medicaid. This is fearmongering and politics at its worst and it is just not true.

Bigotry and hatred have no place here. We’re perfectly capable of policing our borders without fearmongering about the ‘other’ that lies in wait just outside the lines drawn on our maps, just as we’re completely capable of crafting an immigration policy that’s merciful and effectively addresses our economic needs and realities.

Iowans are tired of the grandstanding and inaction on an issue that truly divides our society. The way to change our immigration system is by electing people who have thoughtful solutions and are willing to work across the aisle to find compromise so that good, common-sense immigration policy can become our new reality.

I have an inkling that Bob Ray would’ve been able to do this, and we have politicians today who can follow in his wise footsteps. It’s time for change because we’ve been divided by this issue for too long.

The immigration debate won’t end with this column, just as it won’t end with this election. But the debate should be grounded in reality and treated like a serious discussion, not as a way to whip people into a frenzy and never provide solutions that unite us rather than divide us.

Iowa is better than that. Iowans are better than that.

Rita Hart is the chair of the Iowa Democratic Party.