WIPPS Releases Report from Immigration Dialogues

The Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service (WIPPS) has released a report from a series of dialogues on the topic of immigration. The discussions were part of Let’s Talk, Marathon County, a WIPPS initiative aimed at fostering constructive conversations among residents from across the political spectrum on a variety of public issues.

Fifty-three residents of Marathon County, reflecting diverse demographics and political viewpoints, participated in small group discussions on immigration during summer 2024. Spanish-language dialogues were held in Fall, with 17 participants.

“Despite the growing partisan divide in the United States, these dialogues have shown that people have the ability and desire to engage in respectful and productive conversations with people who have different beliefs,” said Julie Bunczak, WIPPS program manager. “Even with a controversial subject like immigration, there is still a lot of common ground.”

The dialogues demonstrated areas of common ground on several immigration issues, including support for legal status for DREAMers, simplifying paths to citizenship, and allowing Wisconsin residents to obtain driver’s licenses for safer roads regardless of their immigration status.

Let’s Talk, Marathon County was one of 32 grantees for the Healing Starts Here initiative, a nationwide effort to address and understand divisive forces in communities and promote healing.

WIPPS Research Partners has produced a complete report summarizing the findings from How Do We Manage Immigration in Our Country dialogues. A copy of the key findings and executive summary can be found on wipps.org. Notable points from the report include:

• Given the diverse political makeup of each group, one might expect considerable disagreement about the various approaches to the topic of immigration. However, in most of the dialogues, the moderators and observers noted that there was a great deal of common ground among the participants. Participants were able to disagree with each other by explaining their ideas and without attacking dissenting views.
• Participants generally agreed that addressing immigration requires a combination of action items drawing from multiple approaches and perspectives. The complex nature of the issue requires a multi-faceted approach. Themes of clarity, consistency, and fairness emerged and participants across groups frequently described an immigration system that, from their perspective, seems too complicated and is not always enforced fairly.
• Of all the action items discussed, the idea of making the citizenship process clearer and more understandable was among the action items with the strongest and most consistent support. Participants noted that there are too many conflicting federal policies and awareness of the policies is limited. The process needs to be simplified.
• The issue of DREAMers not having a path to citizenship was one that many participants felt should be addressed immediately and through a potentially streamlined process. There was considerable support across groups for this action item. The groups found it to be unfair that children brought to the U.S. illegally should be punished for their parents’ actions.
• There was largely mixed support across the dialogues for securing the southern border by building a wall. Those who strongly opposed building a wall said it will not prevent people from crossing the border, while those in favor said that having an open border is bad for the country and illegal immigration is unfair to those coming legally.
• There was mostly strong opposition to the action item of detaining adults who enter the U.S. illegally and possibly separating families. Participants had considerable worry about the effects of separating children from their parents and asked what will happen to those who are detained, and how such policies would even help.
• Participants strongly opposed or had mixed views of identifying and deporting those currently in the country illegally and requiring that they reapply for entry. While participants recognized the need to uphold existing immigration laws, some expressed concerns that deportations would be impractical, too expensive, too damaging to the economy, or unethical.

In addition to the series on immigration, Let’s Talk dialogues have been conducted on the topics of youth mental health; homelessness; creating healthy communities; and U.S. Presidential elections. More information on Let’s Talk, Marathon County can be found here and for further information on the Healing Starts Here initiative, click here.