Mortimer's got a point though. You know how many DEMOCRATS I'm friends with who have voiced frustrations in casual conversations about Democrats being ridiculously open border and anti-deportation?
Between the corporate lobbying, the portion of the base that wants basically no deportations aside from felons (??) and the party's perceived need to pander to Hispanic voters, it is really a perfect storm for them. I think Democrats could suffer little to no electoral impact by being somewhat less "generous" towards immigrants, but they won't do that for the reasons^ stated above.
Politically, it's a tough line to walk. You don't want to be seen as a party who seems to care more about foreigners than Americans. Having your presidential candidates basically promise not to deport anyone but violent criminals doesn't help that.
Oh I agree. Yet half the Democratic Party disagrees with their own messaging, but the party peaders are afraid of offebdibg people who probably won't vote for them anyway. If they were to take the sane stance on immigration, they'd probably get all those Obama voters back, but whatever. I guess you're automatically a racist if you support any form of deportations
Also consider that the ones who say they won't vote because for a candidate because of not being leftwing enough on immigration are the same ones who will look for any reason not to vote for a democrat in the first place for not being left wing enough on many other issues. meanwhile the benefits outweigh the costs as you can get those Obama-Trump voters back.
