The Court's Immigration Ruling

SUMMARY: Today the Supreme Court struck down much of Arizona's anti-immigrant law as unconstitutional, while leaving in place the "show me your papers" provision -- with a clear warning that it's on thin ice and could be thrown out. Here's how to talk about the decision so we send a clear message about what it means for the future.

CORE MESSAGE

The Supreme Court decision is a warning to politicians: Arizona's overreach is not the way to go.

Connect: We're all frustrated with the country's broken immigration policy, but violating our Constitution and our nation's values isn't the way to fix it.

Define: The Supreme Court's decision is a warning to politicians that Arizona's overreach is not the way to go. But it's also a symbol of our nation's values at stake.

Explain: The Court struck down most of Arizona's law because a free-for-all by the states can't restore order to our immigration rules. But the "show me your papers" provision they let stand, for now, forces people to live in fear -- even if they were born in America.

Illustrate: "Show me your papers" means Justice Scalia could be forced to show his papers because of his last name and Justice Thomas could be stopped because of the way he looks.

Bottom line: The Court's decision reinforces what we all know: we need a responsible national immigration policy, not a patchwork of state policies that make our broken system worse.

Words to use: New Americans, New American immigrants, Aspiring citizens, Roadmap to citizenship

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ATTACKS AND RESPONSES

EXCUSE: "The states are taking action on immigration because the federal government won't."
RESPONSE:

This would be more convincing if the politicians pushing states to take action weren't the same bunch as the politicians preventing the federal government from taking action.
Americans have every right to be frustrated about our broken immigration system and politicians who refuse to fix it.
But state policies like Arizona's anti-immigrant law are costing our local economies and forcing people to live in fear because of how they look. We can't deport our way to prosperity.
The Court's decision reinforces what we all know: we need a responsible national immigration policy, not a patchwork of state policies that make our broken system worse.

For additional Attacks and Responses, please click here.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

In the last two years, five states have passed proposals similar to Arizona's anti-immigrant law -- costing their local economies and making the broken immigration system even worse.
A comprehensive fix could add $1.5 trillion to our economy over the next ten years, create nearly a million jobs, and increase consumer spending by $5 billion per year.
Most Americans reject mass deportations and believe that all or some aspiring American citizens already here should be able to stay (see poll after poll).
Two-thirds of Americans also agree with the President's decision to allow DREAM kids to apply to stay in America without fear of deportation.
Two-thirds of Americans believe that immigration is a good thing for America.

We develop messaging by aggregating, analyzing and distilling polling, tested messaging, and expert recommendations, and monitoring the media to identify what is and isn't working. See here for some of the experts and organizations we draw on.