Trump, and the MAGA movement
“People who come here illegally have broken the law. If you break a law, you should suffer the consequences of breaking that law. Yes, those consequences can be harsh, and it may seem unfair, but it is what it is. If you do the crime you should do the time.”
I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment, however, the Democratic party and the left wing is more likely to be motivated purely by the emotional impact of policies set and carried out by our government. There is a way to argue for the same policies, that is, strictly following the immigration laws already on the books, while framing the issue in a way that will be understood and by those who are swayed by appeals to emotion more than they are appeals to logic. Specifically, I would focus on the dangers and the risks suffered by those who are living here undocumented.
A person who has no documentation and is living in the United States (i.e. those who have immigrated here illegally) is a person who is living in the shadows. There is no official government documentation identifying them as individuals and there are a multitude of ways that being undocumented puts them at risk.
- if they are kidnapped, or murdered, or simply disappear from their family or community, law enforcement is at a significant disadvantage when it comes to investigating their disappearance
- when police find the bodily remains of an undocumented person, that person is much less likely to ever be positively identified, their family is less likely to be informed of the discovery, the crime is less likely to be solved, and there killer is less likely to be brought to justice
- the undocumented are less likely to report when they are victims of any crime, out of fear of their immigration status being discovered.
In summary, the Democrats and those on the left feel that it’s compassionate to leave undocumented people alone, and allow them to continue living in the United States while undocumented. However, allowing somebody to live in our country without proper documentation is itself an uncompassionate act. It greatly increases the chance that they will be victims of criminal acts, and it more or less guarantees they will not report the crimes to police or seek help from law enforcement.
This framing of the issue is historically used by the Democratic party as a reason for granting citizenship to the undocumented. The response to anyone who would say that is simply, "That’s a non-starter. We will be enforcing immigration law.