Third Way Dispatch

Winning the immigration debate depends upon reconciling two prevailing and contradictory positions. 83% of voters, according to Third Way’s own poll, support the Senate compromise bill that rewards rules-abiding, working illegal immigrants with a path to citizenship. 60% of voters, according to the same poll, think it would be a “good goal” to deport all 12 million illegal immigrants back to their home countries.

Voters view the illegal immigration issue as complex and are inwardly torn as to whether they should be treated as lawbreakers or hardworking arrivals seeking to build the American Dream. Overwhelmingly, they want a solution that they feel is fair to taxpayers, tough along the border, and practical in terms of restoring the rule of law and dealing with the multitudes already here. While they admit to supporting deportation as a “good goal,” four-fifths of those supporters say that deportation is “impractical” and most also support a path to citizenship.

We believe progressives must win three battles to solve the immigration wedge among voters and to create the environment to pass the types of reforms that made it through the Senate.

1) Fairness to taxpayers: Compassion for illegal immigrants ends where taxpayer interests begin. Our solutions must in deed and in word be defined as fair to taxpayers.

2) Jobs or Benefits: Conservatives will seek to drive a wedge between progressives and taxpayers by arguing that illegal immigrants are here for government benefits that they don’t deserve. If we fight on that terrain, we lose. We must remind voters that they are here for jobs. That is favorable terrain for us.

3) Responsibility: With little prodding, voters are inclined to believe that the illegal immigration crisis is the fault of conservatives in the White House and the Congress. And they are right: the illegal immigration population doubled under Republican rule, enforcement of illegal immigration laws is down 31% under George Bush, a person is more likely to die from an alligator attack than to be prosecuted for hiring illegal labor under this Administration, and reform is stalled because Republicans are too busy bickering with themselves.

Go to the attached links to check out any or all of four documents on immigration. The first is an in-depth message memo called 7 Steps to Winning the Immigration Debate, the second is a four-page message and strategy memo that went out to elected officials and candidates, the third is a one-pager that distills the message down further, and the fourth is the results of our poll.