On Immigration, Seeing the “Other Side” Without Contempt

“We must look past our first explanations for people’s stances on immigration and everything else. Knee-jerk conclusions come with knee-jerk reactions, the kind of righteousness and resentment that makes us blame instead of think. Check out how the ‘other side’ explains it. They might be too generous. But you might be too critical.”
    — Monica Guzman, Braver Angels ambassador and author of I Never Thought of It That Way

Immigration is one of the most divisive issues in American politics. It sparks passionate debates and strong emotions.

But like most complex issues, immigration isn’t one thing. It’s made up of many different aspects, including legal and illegal immigration, border security, and pathways to citizenship. Too often, the debate is boiled down to simplistic, binary, either-or narratives, making our stances more extreme and less open to compromise.  

Let’s examine some misconceptions and consider how we might approach this issue with less contempt and more understanding.

Many Democrats believe that Republican stances on immigration are rooted in racism and xenophobia. In a 2021 survey, 70% of Democrats said they thought racist beliefs were behind Republicans’ desire for less immigration.

Meanwhile, many Republicans believe that Democrats being less restrictive on this issue is due to them wanting to gain votes and power through demographic shifts. For example, Elon Musk has repeatedly stated that Democrats’ immigration stances are about political gain.

Conflict tends to do this to us: We see our opponents’ motivations through the most pessimistic lens possible. To reduce toxicity, we must see that immigration is a complex, nuanced issue. We must see how easy it is for us to arrive at different views on the issue. Our tendency to see our opponents in the worst possible light fuels vitriol around this and all debates. This tendency wrings the nuance from the discussion.

Concerns about immigration are not inherently racist 

Many Americans want stricter immigration policies for reasons that have nothing to do with racism or xenophobia. Historically, even many progressives have supported stricter immigration policies. Bernie Sanders, for most of his career, stood against lax immigration policies, arguing hey hurt American workers and led to the exploitation of immigrants. Few have called him racist for that stance.

Conservatives aren’t the only ones with concerns about immigration or the border. For example, a 2024 survey found that 42% of Democrats supported mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.

One can find anti-immigrant stances even in Latin American countries, which highlights that this is not just about racism — at least not as it’s constructed in America.

To be clear, there can be racist and xenophobic motivations for anti-immigration stances — and that can be true even for non-white people. The point is that it’s a mistake to assume that everyone who wants tighter border control operates with those motivations.

At the same time, Republicans should be willing to acknowledge the basis of Democrats’ concerns. Trump’s rhetoric has included harsh, derogatory words about immigrants. For example, he has said they’re “poisoning the blood” of the country, that some are “vermin,” and stated confidently, without evidence, that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were eating pets. Such language can understandably lead some people to see Trump’s motivations as racist — or even as having fascist qualities.  

Of course, people will disagree (strongly) on that topic. But hopefully, Republicans can see why people think such things. People who see Trump as having malicious motives should remember that even if that is true, not everyone on that side of the issue has those motives.

No matter our beliefs, we should try to understand the reasons for our fellow citizens’ views.  

Republicans feel their concerns are ignored

For their part, Democrats should try to understand why Republicans feel that their concerns are ignored or even mocked. 

Democratic strategist Ruy Teixeira writes about what he calls the Fox News fallacy, which is where Democrats think if conservative-leaning pundits are outraged about something, then it isn’t a valid concern. This dynamic is standard; we’re prone to thinking, “If the ‘bad guys’ are worried about it, it’s not a real problem.” 

A liberal-side response is often, “But they are too worried about things they shouldn’t be worried about.” That may be true: after all, toxic polarization does lead to many people having overstated fears about the “other side” and events around us. But even if you think someone’s fears are overstated, you should be willing to see the rational roots of their concerns.

Views that Democrats are just trying to retain power

The fact that immigrants are more likely to vote Democrat is a factor in this debate (referring to legal and naturalized immigrants, not undocumented immigrants). This can lead some Republicans to reach for pessimistic views that Democratic stances are motivated by a desire to win elections. 

To explain these pessimistic views, some Democrats will reach for equally pessimistic explanations. For example, some will see all such views as tied to highly conspiratorial and racist “great replacement” ideas. Even as those views do, of course, exist, it’s possible to find much more mundane explanations for this distrust. Democrats might imagine how their stances on the immigration issue might change if immigrants’ rightward shift continued until they predominantly voted Republican. That might lead to Republicans becoming more pro-immigration and Democrats being suspicious of Republicans’ motives. This is just to say any topic that seems to influence elections, even slightly, is an understandable source of distrust and frustration in a polarized country like ours. 

For their part, Republicans might try to see similarities between their highly negative views of Democrats and how Democrats see them. We know that’s hard to do when you passionately disagree. 

But this isn’t about agreeing. It’s about seeing the underlying forces at work: the forces that drive us into contemptuous, distrustful, us-versus-them camps, where we think “they are bad and we are good.”

In short, there are many defensible reasons why Democrats have the stances they do, just as there are many defensible reasons for Republicans’ stances. (Immigration has many sub-topics, so we can’t cover all views here. One respectful discussion on this issue you might appreciate is this Braver Angels debate.)

Trump’s deportations have amplified the divide

With Trump back in office and starting to deport undocumented immigrants, tensions have risen. Trump-opposed people should keep the points we’ve made in mind. As stated, many Americans of assorted races and political views think more should be done on this issue. Trump was elected president, and that issue factored significantly into his support from independents and some people who might otherwise have voted for Democrats. As people in both parties will sometimes say, elections have consequences. 

On the other hand, pro-Trump Americans should try to see how Trump’s approaches on this and other issues can be seen as zero-sum and divisive. Trump’s aggressive, mocking approach can make some think he’s not interested in compromise or persuasion but in “retribution” against his perceived enemies — or even cruelty. 

Again, regardless of your own views on any of these areas, we hope you agree it’s a good thing to try to understand our fellow citizens’ views and concerns. 

Avoid contempt; seek solutions

A country’s citizens will always disagree, and that disagreement becomes more heated when a country is polarized. Immigration is one of many issues where one political group can win power and enact policies the other side finds deeply wrong and harmful. That dynamic is at the core of what makes democracy so hard.

We must stop assuming the worst about each other to reduce political toxicity. Rather than feeding the cycle of contempt, let’s work toward a debate that prioritizes solutions and creative compromise over political warfare.

Learn more

Some related resources:

• Watch Isaac Saul’s TED Talk, in which he discusses polarization over terms like illegal immigrant.
• Watch a 2024 Braver Angels debate with people expressing opposing views on the immigration issue.
• Read 6 Reasons Why Understanding Each Other is More Important Than Ever