A Position on Immigration Is Usually Several Positions
Asking someone for their position on immigration sounds like a single question. It rarely is.
Immigration policy contains several questions that can produce different answers within one coherent view. Who should be admitted, and under what legal categories? How should asylum and humanitarian protection work? What rules should govern family and employment migration?
How should borders and immigration laws be enforced? What procedures should apply to detention and removal? What legal status, if any, should be available to people who have lived in the country for years without authorization?
Due process is another question. In the United States, Congress has broad authority over immigration. People physically present in the country generally have constitutional due-process protections, though their extent can depend on their circumstances. People seeking initial admission stand in a different legal position.
These facts do not dictate one policy answer. They show how one word can hide legal, economic, humanitarian, and administrative choices.
A more useful political conversation separates the questions. Then disagreement becomes specific. Specific disagreement is easier to examine than a slogan carrying several policies at once.