How do African Americans feel about immigration issues?

[B2G]

They are a huge section of the base. I don't see that discussed here, but if this is going to be a primary topic going into the elections in the next several years, I think this is worth considering.

Interesting article here:

Snip:

"African Americans tend to be a reliable voting bloc for the Democratic Party, but they have repeatedly indicated in public opinion surveys that they want significantly less immigration.

A recent Harvard-Harris poll found that African Americans favor reducing legal immigration more than any other demographic group: 85% want less than the million-plus we allow on an annual basis, and 54% opted for the most stringent choices offered — 250,000 immigrants per year or less, or none at all."


http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-seminara-trump-immigration-reform-african-americans-20180316-story.html

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Interesting article. I don't think it occurred to me that immigrants were

displacing black workers. I guess I assumed there was fair competition between the 2 groups for job openings. Where I live, we have a low percentage of African Americans compared to Latinos, who work for all the poultry producers and in Wal-Mart distribution centers.

I would be willing to reduce the number of yearly immigrants as long as 'chain' immigration and the 'lottery' remain. I'm opposed to the so-called merit method of choosing who we let in. I also support a strong asylum and refugee program. We do too little to help these people.

[B2G]

2. Point being this is how they feel about LEGAL immigration.

Care to guess how they feel about those taking an alternative route?

[MichMan]

3. The bakery example was quite telling

More from the linked article

"This dynamic played out recently at a large bakery in Chicago that supplies buns to McDonald's. Some 800 immigrant laborers, most of them from Mexico, lost their jobs last year after an audit by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Cloverhill Bakery, owned by Aryzta, a big Swiss food conglomerate, had to hire new workers, 80% to 90% of whom are African American. According to the Chicago Sun Times, the new workers are paid $14 per hour, or $4 per hour more than the (illegal) immigrant workers."

[NY_20th]

4. The author is distorting two points.

Democrats are pointing out racism in Trump's immigration policy because it is racist. Trump has repeated over and over again that immigrants are murderers, rapists and criminals. Mike Huckabee had a tweet over the weekend that echoed the same mindset.

He then claims that Democrats consider immigrants new voters. Unless immigrants are naturalized, they can't vote.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

5. Trump thinks non-citizen immigrants can and do vote.

Three million of them voted illegally in 2016 to make it appear as if Clinton won the popular vote. Fake news. Sad.

[JI7]

6. What does this have to do with trump's fucked up treatment of people ?

[B2G]

7. Because immigration will be debated during the elections.

And I think it's valuable to know what one of our critical voting blocks thinks about the issue.

[JI7]

9. Trump isn't debating immigration. He is spreading hate and demonizing

And treating people like shit.

[B2G]

12. He will. He will taylor his message.

And so will the other GOP who are running.

[JI7]

38. It's white people who vote for thugs like trump

[Kotya]

70. In case you haven't noticed, Trump is reaching out to AA voters.

Whether or not they respond is one thing but I wouldn't be so dismissive of his efforts.

[JI7]

71. No he isn't

[Kotya]

73. OK. Whatever you say.

[sheshe2]

78. The stats the LA Times quotes is from an internet poll.

The Harvard Harris poll is bull. Trump can try, which he is not, to reach all he wants...not happening.

[B2G]

84. Plenty of others out there. Nt

[sheshe2]

87. Post them.

[JI7]

88. There is actual voting also and only white people vote in huge numbers for anti immigrant bigots

[LanternWaste]

115. Can you point us towards even one successful outreach program

Can you point us towards even one successful outreach program with an objective measure from which to draw a valid conclusion?

[sheshe2]

89. How?

"I did not really call for children to be ripped from their mothers breast, however they are all thugs, murders and rapists and ya know they are not our children so fugg em and their off color skin." MAGA!!!! White is right and might. Yeah right they are really going to hone their racist message to lure POC away from the evil Democrats,

"I really don't care, do you"? (Melania, Quote 06/23/18)

[B2G]

91. They'll make it about jobs and the economy.

Just a prediction. I may be wrong.

[kcr]

107. It's good you at least acknowledge you may be wrong

Because you are, in fact, wrong. This is a garbage article based on racism and internet polls. Trump is a racist white nationalist who appeals to and targets white voters with hate messaging.

[LanternWaste]

110. Actually, beyond irony.

"He will taylor (sic) his message...."

I find you posting that most ironic. Actually, beyond irony.

[LanternWaste]

116. It's a darn shame you've consciously ignored this very conversatio

It's a darn shame you've consciously ignored this very conversation when in was discussed in the AfAm group during the last election cycle.

If it is indeed valuable to know and your sincerity is true, both the tools and the discussions to find many answers you seek are found here on DU.

Unless it's simply another one of your "well, I Googled it and couldn't find anything. lol" episodes. I'm guessing that's in fact, the case.

[MariaCSR]

20. Because Trump will use this to gain the AA vote.

Hell, my play aunt told me in the summer of 2016 she couldn't stand Trump, but she LOVED his policy on immigration because Latinx "take up too many resources". her words.

Shit is real.

[JI7]

40. AA aren't going to vote for trump.

[Iggo]

44. LOL.

[BumRushDaShow]

49. Um WTF?

[JI7]

56. That had to do with sexism which was clear from listening to what the few black

Men who voted for trump said.

[JI7]

59. Lol, like 90 fuck8ng percent of black men voted Clinton

And you thinj the trump voters deserve more attention

[JI7]

64. No, black people are not supporting trump. Ignore the fuck8ng 90+

Percent to come to that bs conclusion.

[JI7]

72. Putting Trump down ? Telling the truth about him is putting him down then

[JI7]

76. You think less than 10 percent of black men who are admitted sexists are more important

Than more than 90 percent blacks which includes close to 100 percent black woman.

[sheshe2]

90. Ooopsie.

They gone,

[George II]

62. "these days"? You joined four hours ago!

[George II]

67. You said "on here", not "liberals altogether". I'm ONE Democrat who DOES have a clue....

....don't need to "buy" one.

Just who are you anyway?

[Hekate]

83. Noooo. You distinctly implied all of DU over a period of time.

Welcome back! Enjoy your stay!

[greatauntoftriplets]

69. This is where uppityperson needs to give further instructions to make...

eggs benedict.

[JI7]

74. He is upset at us "putting down trump".

[marble falls]

79. I'm thinking this going to end with a pizza.

[Hekate]

85. The pizza was delivered in record time, like a nanosecond after I hit Send...

I told him welcome back and enjoy your stay. That was fast.

[marble falls]

93. There's no welcome like a MIRT welcome. Sometimes it sounds like a big ol' 'g'bye'.

[NurseJackie]

111. And collecting overdue fines.

[marble falls]

112. With interest. Intense interest.

[sheshe2]

82. And what is with the "sweetie" thing

Post 55

[marble falls]

94. Stupid and short lived.

[sheshe2]

97. Lol

Sad.

[TheCowsCameHome]

8. Dunno, but they'd better come out and vote in November.

That's for sure.

[oasis]

10. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have consistently spoken

out about Trump's racist and cruel anti immigration policies.

[oasis]

39. "Elections" are the most accurate polls. Black voters re-elect CBC

members of congress because they trust their judgement on issues.

[JI7]

60. They were elected by black voters.

[B2G]

14. Then how do you explain the polls?

It's not just one, it's a lot.

[Locutusofborg]

61. The polls were accurate in 2016

Don't believe it? See for yourself: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_clinton-5491.html

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. What polls ? African Americans are more opposed to Trump's immigration policies than Hispanics.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=10781450

[JI7]

41. How do you explain actual voting results which are the opposite

[JustAnotherGen]

104. It's B2G

Enough said. In a few days it will morph to "black people are responsible for this." Can't wait.

[JI7]

105. Yup, all the shit going on by mostly white people in power

Supported by mostly white people.

But we get a "hey look here, it's black people's fault".

[JustAnotherGen]

106. Because 45 wants our votes in 2020!

[NY_20th]

13. Pitting black voters against immigrants seems to be a Republican ploy

Recent polling shows that black voters oppose Trump's policy

A new Quinnipiac University poll, released Monday, asked voters, “As you may know, some families seeking asylum from their home country cross the U.S. border illegally and then request asylum. In an attempt to discourage this, the Trump administration has been prosecuting the parents immediately, which means separating parents from their children. Do you support or oppose this policy?” As my colleague Dara Lind notes, this characterizes most of the reason for family separation, though some families seeking asylum legally at ports of entry have also been separated.

Sixty-six percent of voters — including 91 percent of Democrats and 68 percent of independents — told Quinnipiac they opposed the policy. Whites with college degrees were likelier than non-college whites to oppose the policy, and young people of all races were likelier to oppose it than old people. Women were likelier to oppose the policy than men, and black and Hispanic Americans were more likely to oppose it than whites (though a large majority of whites still oppose the policy).

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/6/18/17475740/family-separation-poll-polling-border-trump-children-immigrant-families-parents


Here's some data from The Black Institute

There is solid support among African-Americans for immigration reform, as a new poll shows that more than two-thirds of the black community favor providing a path to citizenship for immigrants.

Though some immigration reform opponents have tried to sow dissension among African-Americans by saying immigrants would take jobs away from blacks, that tactic doesn’t appear to be working, based on the poll results.

“But when they sow it among African Americans, the resulting sentiment tends to be overvalued and treated as an essential part of the discussion — instead of being recognized as a cynical attempt to pit two vulnerable minority communities against one another. We’re here today to put this controversy to rest, to show how African-Americans take pride in our nation’s democratic values, our diversity and our ingenuity.”

http://www.theblackinstitute.org/poll_large_majority_of_african_americans_support_immigration_reform

And then there was this recent ridiculousness on Fox News

“I spoke to some African-Americans who say, ‘Gosh, the conditions of the detention centers are better than some of the projects that I grew up in,'” Campos-Duffy said Thursday on The Ingraham Angle.

“The detention centers are far safer than the journey that these children just came on.” She added, “People aren’t stupid.”

To be clear, Fox News doesn’t actually care about Black Americans.

However, by equating these detention camps to the conditions of public housing, Campos-Duffy and her fellow Fox News propagandist are hoping to pit Black folks against immigrants and distract from the humanitarian crisis the Trump administration has caused.

https://www.essence.com/news/fox-news-commentator-rachel-campos-duffy-immigrant-detention-camps-better-projects

[Iggo]

45. And not just a republican ploy, apparently. (n/t)

[Hekate]

96. It's a tried and true Jim Crow tactic to divide people in the lower class so they can never coalesce

...to fight the common enemy. It's what the ruling racists do.

[NY_20th]

100. Exactly.

[peggysue2]

16. This sort of article, op-ed is . . .

meant to divide us on the question of immigration, split us along racial lines. Wonder why?

Dave Seminara is a member of the Center for Immigration Studies, an anti-immigration outfit, designated as a hate group but a favorite source of Fox News and the alt-right.

'Active measures' include dividing, confusing and muddying the waters on controversial issues.

The trolls are swarming, Don't be fooled.

[NY_20th]

18. Thank you for that information on the author.

It felt like I was reading rightwing talking points and now it's clear why.

[peggysue2]

28. You're welcome

There was another article called out this morning, one in which a Gina Anders was quoted in the NYT. She was the "reasonable sounding" lawyer bemoaning how Trump criticism was intensifying Trump loyalty. Meanwhile she's been described as a Neo-Confederate, former Ron Raul enthusiast.

The troll swarms are out there. The NYT and LATimes do their readers no favors by not being 100% transparent about who these people are and what their agendas are truly about.

[lunasun]

102. Thanks for the notice!

[OhNo-Really]

35. Basta!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

17. African Americans are more opposed to Trump's immigration policies...

African Americans are more opposed to Trump's immigration policies than Hispanics:

https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/rbrysksiud/econTabReport.pdf

question 74

African American's are smart. They have seen this movie before. The GOP is trying to get black people to fight with brown people to divert both groups from their common adversary.

[oasis]

21. +100000

[DemocratSinceBirth]

25. Look what I found

African Americans are more opposed to The Wall than Hispanics and more in favor of a path to citizenship for the Dreamers than Hispanics:

https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2550

Getting our African American and Hispanic brothers and sisters to quarrel isn't going to work no matter how much Trump and his enablers try to make it work. I am deeply suspicious of anybody who suggests that it will.

[oasis]

43. AAs are more opposed to The Wall and more in favor of a path to

citizenship for the Dreamers than Hispanics.

https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2550

Thanks for this, and thanks for keeping a sharp eye out.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

47. We have to be vigilant.

No good can ever come from 'stirring up conflict in the community.'

[sheshe2]

54. Also note...

The Harvard-Harris poll is hinky and not to be taken seriously as it is an internet poll. Here is some info on it.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/21/1636308/-WTF-is-the-Harvard-Harris-Poll-anyway

[peggysue2]

24. Yes!!

Republicans and anti-democratic forces want to divide the coalition heading into November. We need to keep our eyes open, check sources and immediately call them out.

Pitting one group against another isn't new and, as you stated DSB, simply diverts attention from the real danger/adversary.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

26. Trying to divide people of color isn't novel.

[uponit7771]

50. +1

[Calista241]

22. I'm really concerned about African Americans being such a hugely

Important bloc of the Democratic Party.

I really think Trump is going to legalize marijuana, and then pardon a shitload of people currently in jail, most of them black.

Basically what the African American community has been asking for for decades. And he’ll market it to whites / conservatives as a cost saving measure and getting non-violent petty criminals out of jail. This will also instantly shed his “racist” label.

Those people cut loose will then be allowed to vote, and how hard is it going to be to vote against someone who gave you or your family members their lives back?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

29. I will stipulate mass incarceration is a problem

I will stipulate mass incarceration is a problem and the inequities of our criminal justice system disparately affect people of color but I serious doubt African Americans as a group place legalized marijuana high on their list of concerns.

[LenaBaby61]

46. "I'm really concerned about African Americans."

"How hard is it going to be to vote against someone who gave you or your family members their lives back?"

He's not giving all AA back their family members or making our lives better. Plus who doesn't know that the con man talks a good game, and is the biggest LIAR in the world. Not just the biggest liar in presidential history but in WORLD history.

And, it won't be difficult at all to vote against the racist, treasonous turd-in-chief, especially after seeing you and your family losing their health care, and especially after seeing blacks of all stripes murdered by rogue police officers like big game animals, who tRump says in public he supports (In private he doesn't give a shit about them either, and we see that he's trying to destroy our intelligence agencies like the FBI et al).

Pretty sure you won't see huge numbers of AA being fooled & then run out to support turd anytime soon. That's the female AA side of me speaking, and if not for them, Roy "Mall Rat" Moore would be the JR. Senator from Alabama. My other half is Native American, this country's most invisible, used and spat upon original inhabitants of this country which is another WHOLE sad, sordid, cruel piece of blood-stained history that belongs in and to this country, a country that's not nearly close to talking about nor dealt with our still huge problems--and that goes for both political parties.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

48. +1

[ecstatic]

95. In the rare event that trump does that, people will be happy but

he still will lose the next election. The norm, up until trump, was that laws passed under previous president are respected and improved upon. So regardless of what trump does, he's out of there next election, assuming democrats are allowed to vote.

[JustAnotherGen]

108. 45 is transactional

45 will make us give up the Civil Rights act. Or - he will outlaw the HBCUs and make a ruling that those degrees are no longer valid. He might also make it illegal to be mixed race.

I know - crazy right?

It's crazy to think black people would be as fucking stupid as a bunch of pig farmers in Iowa and coal miners in Western PA.

We aren't stupid - so cut it out. The most sheltered black person is more "street smart" than poorest coal miner subsisting on SNAP and TANF.

Too many experiences of America fucking us over.

[Lee-Lee]

109. One problem with this theory

As we have often discussed before the Presidential pardon is only for federal crimes.

It’s rare for anyone to get Federal charges and prosecution for marijuana offenses. To be charged you eitehr have to be trafficking a whole, whole lot or that has to be one charge of many that includes weapons charges or other drug charges, esoeciallyncociane, meth of opiates.

Data isn’t super easy to find, but one data set I found shows that in 2912 there were only about 12,000 people in Federal prison serving sentances based on marijunana. Of those over 50% were hispanic and only about 14% were African-Americans.

So that means about 1700 people total in Federal prisons he could pardon. But that doesn’t factor that most of them will also be serving time for other charges that wouldn’t be pardoned.

So in reality he could only get released 1000 or less.

The millions of people in prison for marijuana related convictions are 99.9% in state facilities having been convicted of state and local offenses. Neither a change in the Federal law nor a Presidential pardon will change their situation one bit.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

27. It's an opinion piece

How do African Americans feel about immigration issues?

They don't feel as the opinion writer suggests, of that I am certain.



It's an opinion piece which means it's inherently biased because opinions by their very definition are subjective. I demolished the opinion writer's thesis which was based on a cherry picked poll here:


https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=10781484

and here:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=10781450

[SallyHemmings]

30. My conversations with my grandsons do not include immigrants as threats to manage. However....

I do have to school them on how to deal with being stopped by the local police force.

I do have to school them on how to navigate America in order to get home safely.

I do spend time on American history. This insanity is not new.

The current threat to them is this Treasonous Administration, not brown people trying to escape a bad situation.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

31. Would you agree the attempt to get people of color fighting amongst themselves is transparent

Would you agree the attempt to get people of color fighting amongst themselves is transparent and sad ?

[SallyHemmings]

33. Yes

[DemocratSinceBirth]

36. The poster could speak for herself as she clearly did.

The poster could speak for herself as she clearly did:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=10781569

No need to repeat what you've written in the title section. People read both.

-palo santo

I will write what I want, where I want, and as many times as I want. That's how I roll.

" "

"And using the threat of being perceived as a hateful bigot makes it all the more egregious."

-palo santo

Since this thread is about immigration do you think separating families including children and infants is enlightened or hateful and bigoted policy ?

Trying to establish a baseline, yo. " "

[Wwcd]

32. Trump will come for everyone that isn't in his White Supremacist KKK Club

He's not stopping at Latinos
ffs.

He honors no current law.

Grabbing Fed Lands signals the same demise of the Native Americans, the African Amricans, Latino, Muslim, ...anyone not KKKristian, White Northern European Male & Wealthy.

He really doesn't give a shit

[Iliyah]

42. Majority of AAs are opposed to t-rump's

immigration policies across board and are opposed to what is happening to Latino/Latinas. Unlike t-rump's supporters, AAs do remember history and do have a soul.

If a government can treat immigrants poorly, they will treat citizens they don't approve of the same, and frankly, AAs do understand.

AAs also are fully aware of "white" America.

[Kingofalldems]

51. Oh I see what's going on here.

[JI7]

52. +

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

98. Yeah, it's not even clever. nt

[uponit7771]

103. Majority of us are opposed to anything Benedict Donald does

[DemocratSinceBirth]

113. +1

[Trek4Truth]

53. Are there any black folks commenting on this thread? I'd like to hear from them. nt

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

57. I cant answer the question posed in OPs header, but I do have a question of my own - why is it that

the Dem party has never favored holding illegal EMPLOYERS accountable? A major crackdown on THEIR illegal acts would be very effective imho. Assuming we want to end undocumented immigrants coming here to work there is a much more humane and effective way to do it.

I think there is a legitimate concern about immigrants (whether coming legally or not) displacing US working class workers , that isn't racism, its a legitimate concern based on self interest. Illegal immigration is really another side of the same outsourcing coin, except in this instance the low-paid over-worked worker (who wont complain about safety violations) is coming here to the US instead of the jobs going where they are.

Don't let the Repubs drive a wedge between us! And don't concede legitimate white working class concerns to them either! (They can have the racists though LOL).

[janterry]

80. I think this varies by region

I know here in the North East, I sense that many African Americans are liberal about immigration.

However, in FL, at least where we lived - that was less true. In my daughter's school (at least 70% African American) there was a great deal of hostility towards her Spanish teacher (a lovely woman, btw). Parents were openly hostile (as were some of the kids) to the idea of learning Spanish.

She had to tolerate quite a bit of bias because she was teaching Spanish.

But in general it seemed to me there was far less support. I would guess that the differences in the economies (between FL and New England) had a lot to do with this.

[Hoyt]

81. We know this -- roughly 8% of Blacks voted for trump, as did 28% of Latinos, 27% of Asians who voted

Seems a lot for such an obviously racist, bigoted, hateful buffoon.

Hopefully, that will reverse if trump runs in 2020, but who knows. People do have a right to vote for what they think is best for them.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

101. Three percent of African American women voted for Trump.

[tenderfoot]

86. The author of this op ed is anti-immigration right winger

https://cis.org/Seminara/New-Study-Reveals-96-Negative-Coverage-Trump-Immigration-Policies

New Study Reveals 96% Negative Coverage for Trump Immigration Policies
By David Seminara on May 22, 2017

A telling new study from Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy reveals that liberal media bias is more pronounced in immigration coverage than in any other issue. The study found that during the Trump administration's first 100 days the overall tone of coverage at major media news outlets (CNN, NBC, CBS, FOX, NYT, WaPo, BBC, etc) was 80 percent negative.

Immigration was the most frequently covered topic, accounting for 17 percent of all news stories, and a whopping 96 percent of the pieces and segments were negative. The Harvard academics found that there were 30 negative stories pertaining to immigration for every one positive story. And even Fox News provided 81 percent negative coverage on the Trump administration's immigration policies.

There's no question that the Trump administration's rollout of visa bans I & II was a mess. But given the fact that illegal immigration has declined dramatically under his watch, and the fact that ICE has succeeded in removing hundreds of criminals this year, the 96 percent negative coverage figure is astonishing, even after you factor in liberal media bias.

Americans elected a president whose central campaign theme was to build a wall and enforce our immigration laws. But the front-row kids in the press corps told us that his victory had nothing to do with immigration and insisted that he won because of (pick one or all): Russian interference, the Comey letter, Clinton ignoring Rust Belt voters, and so on. A Harvard-Harris poll in February revealed that 80 percent of Americans oppose sanctuary cities, but this was ignored by the mainstream media. And despite the unremittingly negative coverage of the travel bans, most polls showed that a majority of Americans backed them.

[Kingofalldems]

114. Great catch. Send it up.

[ecstatic]

92. November's outcome will be based on what the white majority decides. Period.

Whites of every background and income voted him in and have an opportunity to change course and help end this nightmare.

I don't know any black people who are OK with trump or what he's doing at the border. Immigration should be fair and the border should be protected (the opinion of most Americans), but all the bullshit about a wall, merit based immigration, scaling back immigration, etc. is racist bullshit.

Full disclosure: My mom and her entire side of the family immigrated to the US from Guyana South America in the 70s.

[The Drumwalker]

99. Illegal alien workers are the best deal in town

Ilegal alien workers pay social security taxes but can not collect social security or medicare at 65. That's America second best deal behind slavery.

[LanternWaste]

117. Well, as merely one editorial won't be an answer

...I'm looking forward to your objective research on this very question, and the conclusions you'll share with us all (I know, I know... who the hell am I kidding? No one, of course. It's simply wishful thinking on my part).

Unless of course, this is going to be another one of your "I Googled but couldn't find anything. lol" episodes. In which case, let us know-- we'll be glad to share Boolean and other search tips to assist you in finding what is to my seventh grade niece, a glaringly easy topic to research.

God bless and God speed, brave lil' wanderer!!!!