A big part of the anti-immigration narrative is the perception that the majority of immigrants are poor, uneducated, and unskilled.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The American story is a story of immigration. I would be the last person who would say immigrants are not important to America.
Immigration is a system and a set of policies. And immigrants are the people behind those policies and behind that system, and the human stories.
Anyone who doesn't agree with the Left's approach to immigration oftentimes gets stigmatized as anti-immigrant or anti-Hispanic.
The American people are not anti-immigrant. We are concerned about the lack of coherence in our immigration policy and enforcement.
Immigrants have always come into the country with low levels of education. Whether it's the Irish or Italian or Polish, here is the land of opportunity. It's where people come in at the bottom and build themselves up. To try to bring in people who have already made it is un-American.
Finally, in my critique of the immigration image of America, it is also important to know that we're not only a nation of immigrants, but we are in some part a nation of emigrants, which often gets neglected.
In U.S. discourse, immigrants are mostly represented as less than human, a policy problem, or as just that, a category, and categories are prisons.
Trump's characterization of undocumented immigrants is, of course, absurd. Not only do the facts, well, trump his assertions, but his prejudiced views demonstrate a deep ignorance about Mexican immigrants in the United States.
Immigrants provide skills that we simply cannot afford to do without. They have contributed hugely to Britain's success.
The popular story is that America was built by immigrants and that, therefore, everything about immigration is good and leads to a more successful society. This narrative is so devoid of historical context that it should embarrass anyone beyond a second-grade education.