After Four Years of the Anti-Immigrant Trump, America Is More Pro-Immigrant Than Ever
By: Frank Sharry
Tags: Joe Biden, Donald Trump, New Year, Immigration, Politics

As we prepare to say good riddance to 2020, let’s take a look back. Instead of focusing on the parade of horribles that 2020 brought to us — a lethal pandemic, an ongoing assault on democracy, and the bottomless bad faith of one of our two political parties — let us focus on some of the positives in the world of immigration policy and politics.

We survived four years of Donald Trump and Stephen Miller

From the moment Trump descended the escalator in Trump Tower to call Mexicans “criminals’’ and “rapists,” nativism has been the animating force of Trump and Trumpism. Trump and his sidekick, the evil Stephen Miller, certainly inflicted a massive amount of pain, trauma and suffering. The cruelty and mismanagement they are responsible for is leaving our already merciless immigration system in such chaos that it will take the incoming administration sustained effort to clean up the mess and build back better.

But Trump and Miller did not win the sweeping and permanent policy changes they sought.

They did not effect the mass deportation of millions. They did not get Congress to slash legal immigration. They did not end DACA, TPS, or sanctuary policies. They did not permanently end the admission of refugees and asylees. They did not build a 2,000 mile border wall. And, lest we forget, they did not get Mexico to pay for the 450 miles they did build.

All of these policy changes — and many more — — are slated for reversal, repair and replacement under the Biden-Harris administration.

Public opinion support for immigrants increased sharply during the most anti-immigrant Presidency in our lifetime

When Trump won in 2016, most in the political class declared nativism a big winner. At the time, advocates feared that four years of demonizing and dehumanizing rhetoric from the bully in the bully pulpit would take a tremendous toll. In fact, just the opposite happened. Trump’s xenophobia never got much traction outside the cul-de-sac of his base and it backfired with the majority of Americans.

Recent Gallup research shows support for immigrants and immigration — questions they have been asking since 1965 — is at its highest level ever.

Recent Pew research finds 60% believe newcomers strengthen American society while 37% say they threaten traditional customs and values. This is a shift in the pro-immigrant direction of 14 percentage points over the past four years.

As David Graham of The Atlantic recently wrote, Trump “managed to force a national conversation around immigration, but rather than bring people to his side, he’s convinced them he’s wrong.”

To underscore this remarkable development, this past week we published a powerpoint deck to graphically portray the current state of public opinion on immigrants and immigration.

In the age of Covid, newfound appreciation for immigrants as essential workers

As the pandemic affected every aspect of daily life, many Americans came to know and appreciate the life-saving and essential work of undocumented and documented immigrants. From farm workers, meatpackers, delivery workers, and care providers to doctors, nurses, first responders and resilience workers, many Americans became more profoundly aware of and grateful for the courage and contributions of immigrant workers.

With polls showing strong majority support for legalizing undocumented immigrants who are essential, none other than Peggy Noonan, conservative writer for the Wall Street Journal, weighed in with this:

“…you have seen who’s delivering the food, stocking the shelves, running the hospital ward, holding your hand when you’re on the ventilator. It is the newest Americans, immigrants, and some are here illegally. They worked through an epidemic and kept America going. Some in the immigration debate have argued, ‘They have to demonstrate they deserve citizenship’ — they need to pay punitive fines, jump through hoops. ‘They need to earn it.’ Ladies and gentlemen, look around. They did.”

As an electoral issue, immigration as a GOP dog-whistle go-to is more bark than bite

For decades, Republicans have deployed immigration as a racist wedge issue. Attack ads regarding “criminal aliens,” “open borders” and “amnesty” have been aimed at mobilizing white grievance voters, peeling off swing voters and demoralizing Democrats.

But 13 years after Rahm Emanuel called immigration the “third rail of American politics,” and four years after Trump’s upset 2016 victory, immigration is the wedge that is losing its edge. In the 2017 governor’s race in Virginia, in the 2018 midterms, and in the 2020 elections, the anti-immigrant dog-whistle turned off more voters than it turned on.

This is not to say that we are out of the woods. But similar to the aforementioned shifts in public opinion, we can feel and see the tectonic plates shifting. Democrats are learning how to lean in on immigration policy and call out the motivations of their opponents for their attacks ads. Pro-immigrant progressives and organizing groups are driving turnout and holding candidates accountable. Throughout America, and especially in urban and suburban areas, a multiracial, multiethnic and multigenerational majority is emerging that rejects xenophobia and wins elections.

And yes, we have a long way to go

We have our work cut out for us. On policy, we have to undo the thicket of cruel measures put in place by Trump and Miller and build a new system that is fair, humane and politically sustainable. In public opinion, we have to deepen and broaden support so that our progressive lane is stronger, our center-left lane is deeper and our center/center-right lane is broad enough. On essential workers, we have to translate public support for their contributions into labor protections, full inclusion in relief packages, access to testing, treatment and health care, and a path to citizenship for those without papers. In electoral politics, we have to continue to demonstrate to candidates that there is a majority that rejects the dog whistles and the demonization, and that a mobilized pro-immigrant voting constituency is rising.

But let’s pause for a moment and take note. After four exhausting years of confronting an existential threat to immigrants, refugees and the idea of America as a welcoming nation, we’re still standing. In fact, it’s my view that we are stronger than ever.

Remarkable.