“Both parties are the same! They both deport people!”
Well, yes ... but:
First, understand that US voters very broadly want border enforcement. No party that supports open borders can win power. This is a democracy. Therefor, people will be deported, yes, under both parties(or any other).
But there are radical differences between the parties:
Detention & due process Dems: want judicial warrants before detention. Republicans sidestep warrants and hamstring due process, imprisoning someone until they give up their rights.
Deportation destinations Dems oppose sending people to countries they’ve never been to. Republicans have sent hundreds of people to continents they’ve never been to, such as deporting Hondurans to Africa.
Agent identification Dems: want ICE to show ID, no masks. Republicans support masked, secret police.
Sensitive locations (schools, churches, hospitals) Dems: want them off-limits. Repsublicans broadly support allowing arrests there.
State cooperation Dems: blue states limiting ICE cooperation. Reps: red states expanding it via local police partnerships.
Funding Dems: pushed to cut ICE/Border Patrol funding, support body cameras. Reps: pushed to keep/increase enforcement funding, oppose body cameras.
Birthright citizenship Dems: defend it as constitutional. Reps: Trump admin pushing to end it.
Family separation / children Dems: oppose separating families
during enforcement. Republicans use family separation as a tactic of terror.
Legal immigration & refugees Dems have worked to preserve/expand legal pathways. Republicans have blocked those efforts and are pushing to shrink refugee admissions and deport people already granted protectede status.
Local police involvement Dems: want to keep local police out of federal immigration enforcement. Reps: want local police deputized to serve Donald Trump.
𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗲: If most Dems could wave a magic wand and make the undocumented US citizens, we would do that. In a heartbeat.
If most Republicans could wave a magic wand and send all immigrants to the Congo, they would do that. In a heartbeat.
Republicans are supported by the KKK, the Aryan Brotherhood, the Proud Boys, Stormfront, and other white nationalist organizations.
Democrats are supported by
ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project
American Immigration Council
National Immigration Law Center (NILC)
National Immigration Project
Immigrant Defense Project
Human Rights First
I’m sorry that any otherwise innocent person is ever deported.
But what the US offers, and what Democrats support, is due process. This is the foundation of our society.
Republicans support brutality and unconstitutional lawlessness.
There is a massive difference in those positions.
Pretending that they are the same only weakens efforts to restore justice and the rule of law and enables further violence against immigrants.