While I disagree with Clinton's "meet the bigots in the middle" approach, I am worried that the Democratic party hasn't coalesced around a coherent immigration message in the way that they have around, say, defending access to healthcare for people with pre-existing conditions. There needs to be a concise set of policy goals that is easy to understand and difficult to be misconstrued as "open borders" in order to gain any traction. Otherwise, the issue of immigration will essentially be ceded to the "build the wall" types, with liberals stuck playing defense, much like what has happened in many European countries.
My ideal policy preference is to make the legal immigration process much faster and more streamlined, create a pathway to citizenship for people already living here without legal status, allow significantly more people in each year, and to be particularly more generous towards refugees and asylum seekers. Our country is large enough to accommodate many more migrants than we currently do, the economic benefits would be large, and it would do a lot to improve our country's moral standing in the world.
If the above is too pie-in-the-sky in the current political climate, Democrats should at least be laser focused on the things that are easier sells politically, like protecting DACA recipients and allowing more high-skilled workers into the country. Anything that's more proactive than just saying that the caravan isn't as scary as it sounds would be nice.
