Accusing people of xenophobia for wanting immigration enforcement is a way to avoid engaging with legitimate policy concerns. Let's look at who actually supports immigration restrictions.

A 2023 Harvard-Harris poll found that 72% of Americans — including 64% of Hispanic Americans — believe the current border situation is a crisis. A Gallup poll found that 40% of Americans want immigration decreased. Are nearly three-quarters of Americans, including majorities of Hispanic Americans, xenophobic?

The United States is the most diverse country in the developed world and admits more immigrants per year than any other nation. Over 46 million foreign-born residents live in the U.S. — about 14% of the population, the highest percentage in over a century. This is not a country that fears 'the other.'

Immigration restrictionism exists in virtually every country. Japan admits fewer than 100,000 immigrants per year and has almost no refugee resettlement. Canada uses a strict points-based system. Australia physically intercepts and returns migrant boats. New Zealand has tight numerical caps. Nobody calls these countries xenophobic.

The concerns behind immigration enforcement are practical, not racial: fiscal costs of low-skilled immigration, wage depression for American workers, strain on public services, community safety, and the principle that a nation should decide who enters. These are policy positions held by people of every race and ethnicity.

It's also worth noting that the strongest supporters of immigration enforcement in polls are often recent legal immigrants and residents of border communities — people who experience the effects of uncontrolled immigration firsthand.

Calling opponents xenophobic isn't an argument — it's a smear designed to silence debate. Address the policy concerns or acknowledge you can't, but don't attack people's motives.