NEW YORK CITY - With immigration continuing to be a top social and political issue for both voters and candidates alike, a top advocacy group is urging Democrats to focus and counterattack on Trump's promise of mass deportations if he is reelected.
The unprecedented influx of migrants into the U.S. has pushed Democrats and the Biden administration to support tough immigration proposals, including the failed bipartisan Senate border deal, as its current stance is seemingly an electoral liability. This has drawn the spotlight away from Trump's pledges to expand his first-term crackdown on immigrants.
Now, as Democrats increase anti-immigration rhetoric and measures, immigration advocates are growing more frustrated, as attention has deviated from migrants' positive effect on the U.S. economy and towards a relentless focus on the mechanics of migration, The Hill reports.
"While Trump used similar rhetoric and deportation promises during his first campaign and his first term, we fear a potential Trump second administration would be prepared to actually enact this dystopian vision," Vanessa Cardenas, America's Voice Executive Director, said in a memo to the country's editorial boards.
"Trump himself has detailed the specifics at rallies and in his recent Time magazine interview, and that is combined with detailed comments by Stephen Miller and the chilling details of the Heritage Foundation's 'Project 2025," Cardenas continued.
She added that, while Americans are fond of maintaining an orderly border, mass deportations would bring more negative than positive repercussions. At the same time, this tactic would gut the labor force in a series of essential industries like agriculture and construction.
"Americans would be repulsed by the authoritarian scenes of troops separating families. The visceral reaction across ideologies against Trump's family separation during his first term provides the best model," she wrote.
Because of this predicted reaction, Cardenas urged Democrats to use this message in their favor, rather than continue down their current path. She explains that while immigration and its laws are undeniably difficult to manage, Trump's "ugly visions" during a second term can actually benefit the left.
"Democrats need to consistently and repeatedly call out extremism— and the extreme consequences of— mass deportation," she writes. "Political observers should take it seriously and it should be the central immigration focus of the 2024 campaign."
In the memo, Cardenas also focused on the role of the press, urging journalists across the U.S. to educate and inform voters on mass deportations and its effects on American families.
"This mass deportation would rip apart American families, communities, and the economy in a way that impacts people across the country regardless of immigration status or direct connections to the foreign-born. We should take this mass deportation promise seriously and devote renewed attention to this potential catastrophe in the weeks and months ahead," Cardenas wrote.
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