1/ Trump Has a Gift for Tearing Us Apart nyti.ms/2RH2So8 // A really empirical article on attitudes towards immigration by Thomas Edsall. The Democrats do have an immigration problem. For example, the FL-based "Dream Defenders" are not fully understood, though Democrats
2/ have an affinity for them. They are for open borders just like the Koch brothers, Wall Street, and corporations are for the free movement of capital. The "Dream Defenders" are for the free movement of people. They state that the US border is "arbitrary." They want an "end to
3/ borders." These are policy prescriptions that would be an electoral disaster for Democrats. These are policies that have no support among Hispanics. None. Nunca. Second, the gameshow debates allow for no discussion of the intersection of automation and immigration. If we are
4/ automating occupations at a frightful rate, potentially putting tens of millions of working-class folks out of a job, and potentially even middle-class occuptions under threat, do we need more or less immigration? On the other hand, the gameshow debates have not talked about
5/ climate change, let alone the interaction between climate change and climate change refugees that are coming to surge around the world. The mass media are not treating existential issues seriously. And in that media environment, an authoritarian bully with a simple message
6/ might beat a Democrat who has to answer a question with an essay. There are good reasons to decriminalize border apprehensions. The primary one is that 50% or so of the work of US attorneys are spent on these cases and not more important cases. Here is a long article.
7/ The Most Prosecuted Federal Offense in America: A Primer on the Criminalization of Border Crossing lawfareblog.com/most-prosecute… 
8/ Here is data from the article.
9/ And from within the article a link to federal prosecutions' study. trac.syr.edu/tracreports/cr… You have to use a lot of words in a gameshow debate where you have very little time to answer or respond to talk about decriminalizing the border. Similarly, it takes a lot of time and
10/ words to explain why you want to increase immigration and decriminalize border crossings. The issue of the proper level of immigration is a tough policy question. You have to get labor market, climate change, automation, foreign aid, all into the mix. The trap is to be seen
11/ as supporting open borders with little to no enforcement. The "Dream Defenders" in this case--and end to borders and free movement--are more a hindrance than a help. Trump, on the other hand, is going to promote immigration as a "Camp of the Saints" existential threat.
12/ Democrats are going to have to get their messaging and narrative and policies nailed down. They have to be easy to understand. Easy to remember. And be consistent with the values of the electorate. And, you have to have a counter-narrative for the "Camp of the Saints" view.
