Yehimi Cambron, a DeKalb County teacher who came here from Mexico as a child, was among immigrants and activists in Washington, lobbying for immigration reform, as the national political debate burst into flames.

It was highlighted by President Donald Trump’s highly publicized conciliatory meeting with congressional leaders to talk about a solution and promising to sign a bill they would bring him, then criticizing the compromise a bi-partisan group of them proposed. Then the discussion reached new levels of rancor with Thursday’s reporting of Trump’s use of a derogatory term to describe poor, non-white countries during further immigration discussions.

Politicians of good will tried to maneuver around the president’s remarks and continue working on solutions to difficult questions, but the current atmosphere is not helping.