Democrats should criticize Trump for his attack on LEGAL immigration
It’s all what you choose to emphasize
The hand-wringing has begun. Several columnists are already bemoaning the Democrats’ ideological positioning, while others argue that the candidates are doing Trump’s work by attacking each other.
There is evidence to counter this warning, but what is really striking is how the Democrats are repeatedly warned not to become too radical while the Republican party has become the equivalent of the far-right nationalists in Europe. And Democrats are the radicals?
So much of politics depends upon what you emphasize. Just recently, Tim Chapman of the Heritage Foundation argued that Republicans need to change their message. He pointed to polling that shows that the Republicans are making the weakest argument for their immigration policy. Instead, he suggested they should emphasize the potential for immigrants to need social services rather than the argument that they take jobs or commit crimes. In making that point, Chapman was not suggesting the Republicans change their policy, just how they present it to the public.
Democrats have a similar problem on immigration. By huge margins, Americans are outraged over Trump’s policy of separating immigrant children from their families. When they emphasize this point, they win the immigration argument.
On the other hand, when we emphasize a policy of eliminating ICE, or decriminalizing illegal immigration, we lose folks. One poll found that nearly 80% of Americans oppose “open borders.”
The lesson? Americans support immigration generally, but want it to be limited, and want those limits enforced. What really outrages them is the idea that illegal immigrants could obtain social benefits.
