Subject: Re: Trump, MAGA Abandon Border Deal
American voters overwhelmingly favor the GOP over the Democrats over the border.

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I suspect this summary is implicitly assuming a 50/50 split of voters between Democrats and Republicans and reflects the normal horserace positions the media reports as a timesaver that assumes people view Democrats as "weak" on immigration and Republicans as "tough" on immigration. The country is not split 50/50 between Democracts and Republicans. The party affiliation split in America right now is roughly ----> Independent=45%, Democrat=28% and Republican=25% (don't ask me where the 3% went, I'm just reporting what Gallup found in January 2024). The individual bullet points of immigration (either in perception or actual policy) do not likely break in the Republican direction when looking beyond the branding and shorthand. The vast majority of ALL Americans are easily in favor of these outcomes:

* drastically reducing ILLEGAL immigration (duh)
* minimizing time-in-country to days or weeks for anyone claiming asylum who isn't found ELIGIBLE for asylum
* minimizing time-in-country to hours or days for people just swamping a port of entry or sneaking in somewhere else

I suspect that a majority of Democrats and Independents are in favor of

* adding funding / personnel to courts and staff to catch up and handle whatever arrival rate occurs
* adding funding / staffing at crossing points (legal and otherwise) to increase interception rates

knowing that there is no way to accomplish the first two bullets without spending more money and allocating more legal resources for processing.

Any thinking voter also realizes a growing immigration "twilight zone" problem requires a fix. The US is allowing people to enter to apply for asylum as expected under Geneva Conventions obligations then finding a) they ARE NOT eligible for asylum here based on US law and b) their country of origin refuses to take them back (China).

I suspect more liberal Democrats are in favor of:

* more relaxed criteria for proving asylum eligibility
* higher asylum quotas per year
* higher yearly work visa totals
* higher yearly totals for green cards for permanent immigration

If one attempts to be charitable, one might say that Republicans and ultra-MAGAs are okay with LEGAL immigration but in reality, they are a split brain on this. Many large businesses may SAY they want more LEGAL immigration because they need low-wage workers but in reality, I suspect many large business PREFER the status quo because illegal immigrant labor saves them money. Illegal immigrants work without many workplace protections, likely work for less than going wage rates and employers likely fail to pay required payroll taxes on those wages -- all net positives for business owners.

In reality, I suspect the vast majority of ultra-MAGA Republicans really want NO immigration, legal or illegal or asylum. They think a continual influx of immigrants is watering down the precious "blood" of 'Muricans'. Ignoring the actual physical reality, this same segment wants whatever Trump tells them to want and Trump wants NO deal and has explicitly stated he wants the chaos of the status quo as an issue more than a solution that improves ANY issue ANY Republican CLAIMS to care about.

I do NOT think the overwhelming majority of Americans think Republicans had a superior position on immigration over the past few years. I am reasonably sure at this point that the 75% of non-Republicans are very clear as of 2024 that the Republican position on immigration is no policy at all, only chaos and blame in election cycles.


WTH