Key Immigration Politics Stories
- Trump loves Dreamers so much he’s trying to deport them: Trump is cynically trying to pose as a champion of DACA while his administration is aggressively trying to end the program and subject Dreamers to deportation.
- Why immigration as a wedge issue has lost its edge: In 2016 and 2018, immigration was a top electoral issue. Less so in 2020. Trump still wields xenophobia in speeches and ads, as do some GOP candidates. But why has immigration as a wedge issue lost its edge? Immigration backfired badly in the 2018 midterms; Trump’s immigration radicalism is deeply unpopular; and public opinion is more pro-immigrant than ever.
- 200+ Advocacy Groups Urge Biden to Protect 2.2 Million from Deportation on “Day One” Through DED: In a letter first covered by Forbes, more than 200 state and local groups urged Joe Biden to enact Deferred Enforcement Departure (DED) on day one of his potential presidency, which would protect more than 2.2 million people from deportation, starting with those on the verge of losing Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
- Former Trump Undocumented Worker Sandra Diaz Narrates New “America Relies on Immigrants Like Us” Video: Watch our new video, narrated by former Trump undocumented worker Sandra Diaz and underscoring the essential contributions of the 11 million undocumented in our country.
Trump loves Dreamers so much he’s trying to deport them
- In the NBC town hall on Thursday night, President Trump responded to a pro-DACA questioner with his usual bluster, obfuscation and mendacity. While Trump said, “we’re gonna take care of DACA,” he has relentlessly pursued an end to DACA in order to threaten Dreamers with deportation (read the receipts here).
- As Frank Sharry stated, “Trump is cynically trying to pose as a champion of DACA while his administration is aggressively trying to end it. So why is he lying? Because ending DACA and threatening the deportation of Dreamers” is incredibly unpopular.
- Along with Trump, other Republicans in 2020 races such as John Cornyn, Martha McSally, and Thom Tillis are similarly trying to recast and blur their past opposition to DACA. But as Sharry concluded, “Make no mistake, the future of Dreamers is on the ballot this November. If you care about Dreamers, vote accordingly.”
Immigration as a wedge issue has lost its edge
- In The American Prospect, David Dayen explores why “Trump Isn’t Talking as Much About Immigrants This Year,” citing that Trump’s attempt to run on immigration in 2018 “led to an historic defeat,” and concludes that while Trump “still plays to Americans’ basest instincts … he’s found certain levels of xenophobia too hot to tackle in public.”
- Frank Sharry also explored the question here, noting:
- “Trump’s drive to demonize and dehumanize immigrants and refugees has backfired…outside of Trump’s shrinking core of diehard supporters.”
- “That is why repeated efforts by Trump and his GOP enablers to run hard on xenophobia for electoral victories have failed so miserably. That is why there is no Governor Ed Gillespie of Virginia, no Senator Lou Barletta of Pennsylvania nor a Governor Kris Kobach of Kansas. That is why in the 2018 midterms Trump’s caravans-and-criminals demagoguery led to the biggest midterm defeat in American history” (read our report on how xenophobia backfired in multiple close elections in 2017, 2018 and 2019 here).
- “Trump does continue to use xenophobia in his rally speeches, his advertising, tweets and his administration’s relentless policy war on immigrants. Many GOP candidates use immigration in their attack ads. But it is falling flat. Trump and the GOP are learning the hard way that, beyond the cul-de-sac that is their base, immigration as a wedge has lost its edge. He and his enablers have forced Americans to choose, and we have.”
200+ groups urge Biden to protect 2.2 million TPSers-plus from deportation
- As Forbes reports, more than 200 state and local groups across the country signed on to a letter urging Presidential candidate Vice President Joe Biden to enact Deferred Enforcement Departure (DED) on day one of his presidency.
- DED would protect more than 2.2 million people who are at risk of losing Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which President Trump is taking away from them.
- A President Biden could protect them from losing jobs and being deported with swift executive action.
Read the new letter to Joe Biden on DED here
Former Trump undocumented worker Sandra Diaz narrates “America Relies on Immigrants Like Us” video:
- Watch our new video, narrated by former Trump undocumented worker Sandra Diaz. She explains how the President’s hypocritical history of employing and exploiting undocumented workers “reveals the truth … America relies on immigrants like us.”
- Watch the new video from America’s Voice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lypZsUJ_cKc&feature=youtu.be.
Racist Campaign Ad of the Week (from our remodeled, searchable website, 2020 Ad Watch)
- Arizona Senate: Facing down back-to-back Senate losses, Martha McSally is reaching back to her losing strategy from 2018 of employing xenophobic dog-whistle ads. In her latest ad, McSally has border patrol union vice president Art Del Cueto attack Mark Kelly. No neutral observer, Del Cueto supports the hate group founded by a white nationalist and eugenicist, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
- In McSally’s ad Del Cueto fear-mongers against the non-white other, saying “I know how dangerous the radical movement to undermine law enforcement is,” as images of brown bodies at the border play out on screen.
- Del Cueto makes the patently false assertion that Mark Kelly supports open borders.
