It is possible for our leaders in Washington to perform the public service we have elected them to perform.

They proved it Tuesday with Senate passage of sweeping criminal justice reform that addresses the imprisonment of too many Americans for non-violent crimes without preparations for their return to society.

The reforms have been pushed hard by President Trump, who will sign the bill after House approval. The bill gives judges more discretion when sentencing some drug offenders, allowing them to impose reduced sentences, and boosts prisoner rehabilitation efforts.

Those measures will reduce prison costs sharply and stress rehabilitation that produces fewer cases of recidivism, which will make communities much safer.

The legislation is practical, the punishments better fit the crimes, and the results should benefit both communities and government budgets. The legislation has the backing of both conservatives and liberal advocacy groups.

It is what is possible when real public service is performed by elected officials.

And it makes the childish tug-of-war over border safety and a protective wall, with orderly immigration checks as opposed to rampant chaos, so infuriating.

The president is seeking $5 billion for a border wall, which sounds like a lot until you consider this is an $8 trillion budget. The wall does not impact legal immigration one bit. It protects residents along our southern border, where there is daily illegal entry. It makes the job of unappreciated border agents easier and more peaceful by channeling people attempting to come into our country to the legal entry points.

Only 9 percent of those showing up at our southern border qualify for asylum. Many of the rest are simply trying to get into the country for the wrong reasons or economic improvement.

The economic improvement intention is understandable. That’s what the legal immigration system that processed 1.3 million people into our country in 2017 is for.

But President Trump, the House and the Senate have a moral responsibility to the Americans that elected them to protect our borders from those who are seeking entry into the country for the wrong reasons. We should not make that easy for them when such entry is abusive toward the millions of people seeking immigration through legal means, at a cost of time and money.

Instead, we get the threat of a partial government shutdown due to resistance from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. We get preaching from former President Obama and Trump’s 2016 challenger, Hillary Clinton. And we get an agenda-driven, irresponsible mainstream media that all but buries the fact all of them are on videotape supporting a border wall.

Sacrificing the nation’s border security and correct use of the immigration system and shutting down a portion of the government over politics is not public service. And it’s so unnecessary.

The legal immigration system needs reformed, just as the criminal justice system does. The difference in the two divergent results – so far – is nothing more than counterproductive politics.

All Americans deserve better than a government shutdown over border security and immigration reform that is clearly doable and desirable.