President Trump is winning “powerful rhetorical ground” in the immigration debate against 2020 Democrats, a left-wing think tank admits.
The Center for American Progress, a think tank that oftentimes drives the Democrat Party’s left-wing agenda, released a report on Monday describing how Democrats are losing to Trump when it comes to the national immigration issue and the illegality of large-scale border crossings.
Tom Jawetz, the vice president for immigration policy at the Center for American Progress, writes that Democrats’ embrace of describing the United States as a “nation of immigrants” versus a “nation of laws” will cost them votes in elections and requests that they stop accepting this “false dichotomy.”
Jawetz writes:
For too many years, the conversation has been predicated on a false dichotomy that says America can either honor its history and traditions as a nation of immigrants or live up to its ideals as a nation of laws by enforcing the current immigration system. [Emphasis added]
Presented with this choice, supporters of immigration—people who recognize the value that immigrants bring to American society, its culture, and its economy, as well as the important role that immigrants play in the nation’s continued prosperity—have traditionally seized the mantle of defending America as a nation of immigrants. [Emphasis added]
By doing this, however, rather than challenging the dichotomy itself, supporters have ceded powerful rhetorical ground to immigration restrictionists, who are happy to masquerade as the sole defenders of America as a nation of laws. [Emphasis added]
A number of Democrats running for president have endorsed an open borders agenda that invites any willing and able foreign worker to come to the U.S. to compete against working and middle class Americans for jobs, as well as providing free taxpayer-funded healthcare to illegal aliens.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), for example, has laid out a plan wherein she will decriminalize illegal immigration, increase legal immigration levels beyond their current 1.2 million annual admissions, and increase refugee resettlement by 700 percent.
Similarly, former Vice President Joe Biden has said he “respect[s] no borders” and has repeatedly advocated forcing American taxpayers to pay for free healthcare for illegal aliens.
Trump, to the contrary, has slammed 2020 Democrats for endorsing giving free healthcare to millions of illegal aliens, writing on Twitter, “How about taking care of American Citizens first!?” As Breitbart News reported, providing healthcare to illegal aliens could cost Americans about $66o billion over a decade.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.