The Democratic National Committee recently created the site YourRepublicanUncle . com as "the Democrat's guide to talking politics with your republican uncle" [1]. Here's how it misleads on the immigration issue.

They provide five immigration "myths", each followed by supposed "facts" to refute "myth". I'll quote each pair, followed by how it misleads:

Myth
Immigration reform will allow illegal immigrants to take away jobs from hard-working Americans.
Fact
Actually, immigrants are job creators. In 2011, for example, immigrants started 28% of small businesses in the United States . First generation Americans have also created big businesses over the years - you know, like, Google

Some of those businesses may be sham independent contractors, but the key problem is that they're comparing apples to oranges. Immigration reform would only cover illegal aliens, but in their "Fact" they're referring to the entire population of what they consider to be "immigrants": both illegal aliens and legal immigrants. There are more higher-skilled people among legal immigrants than illegal aliens. What the DNC is saying is akin to saying that everyone in Palo Alto is a "job creator", when in fact only a small percent of that city's population fit that (GOP-originated) label. The idea that every immigrant is like Sergey Brin is beyond absurd. Related: see how Michael Bloomberg's PNAE mislead about immigrants and the Fortune 500.

The comprehensive immigration reform that the DNC wants will enable some former illegal aliens to move up in the job market; see immigration wage floor. For instance, if you're a cashier at the Fort Stockton, Texas WalMart, after reform there will be several new competitors for your job. As an illegal alien, someone (hypothetically) couldn't work as a cashier at WalMart. After reform, they can apply and they'll compete with a new set of Americans who previously hadn't faced competition from those who'd been legalized. By the simple law of supply and demand, that will result in lowered wages for WalMart cashiers and will lead to some WalMart cashiers losing their jobs.

The DNC claim doesn't pass the smell test: some of the major backers of immigration "reform" include the US Chamber of Commerce, WalMart, growers, big banks, chicken processors, McDonalds, and others. Are those companies and groups in the habit of doing things that preserve American jobs and wages?

Next:

Myth
A path to citizenship will hurt our economy.
Fact
That's just not the case. In fact, providing a path to citizenship to the 11 million undocumented immigrants would help our economy grow by $832 billion over the next 10 years. If undocumented workers don’t have a path toward citizenship, they won’t be able to pay their taxes and participate in society.

The DNC is cherry-picking the Congressional Budget Office report, that also admitted that the Senate immigration bill would lower wages for millions of Americans for over a decade. "Reform" is being pushed by the elites for a reason: the elites would be the ones who benefit either with increased racial power or with higher profits. The DNC is also implying that all those who are "undocumented" are workers, when that's not the case. The DNC also assumes that illegal aliens should stay in the U.S., when the proper policy is to encourage them to go home and build up their own countries. Whatever limited benefit they'd be here once legalized, they'd provide a similar benefit to countries in much worse shape, and improving the situation in countries like Mexico would have huge benefits for the U.S. long-term.

Myth
Immigration reform will bankrupt this country.
Fact
If we pass the comprehensive immigration reform bill - which was written by a group of Republicans and Democrats and has already passed the Senate with bipartisan support - we'll cut the federal budget deficit by about $850 billion in the next 20 years ... but who's counting?

That's a strawman argument: no one with any power and few who don't have any political power claim that the U.S. can be bankrupted by "reform". Some fiscal conservatives do make outlandish claims but that's over the debt, not immigration. Regarding any economic benefits from "reform", see the related discussion on the immigration economics page. Any deficit reduction has to be weighed against other economic costs and non-economic costs. You could make money by selling your car, but not having a car has other costs. The DNC is ignoring those other costs, but you shouldn't.

Myth
The DREAM Act lets illegal immigrants go to college for free at the expense of Americans.
Fact
DREAM Act students would not be eligible for federal grants at all . They could be eligible for federal loans, however, but they need to pay those back. And DREAMERs are largely people who were brought to America as children and have never called any other country home. Isn’t allowing those young people to get an education or serve in our military part of the American dream?

There are state versions of the DREAM Act that do give illegal aliens in-state tuition breaks and so on. Various versions of the federal DREAM Act have had different age ranges, but none have had the requirement that someone knows no other country; those eligible could have been brought here at 15 years of age.

But, the major problem with the DREAM Act is the impact it will have on the American dream of Americans: as discussed in great depth on the DREAM Act page, that bill will let those covered by it deprive some citizens of college educations. Supporting the DREAM Act is equivalent to turning your back on your fellow citizens. The DNC is willing to do that, but you shouldn't.

Myth
Immigration reform just gives amnesty to all the people who came here illegally, and that just means more people will come here illegally.
Fact
Someone's been listening to too much Rush Limbaugh. The comprehensive immigration reform bill requires those that have entered this country illegally to pass a background check, pay taxes, learn English, pay a penalty, and then go to the back of the line . That’s hardly amnesty.

Note that the DNC completely ignores the second part of their "myth". Regarding the first part, playing word games with the word "amnesty" is a favorite sport of its supporters. To avoid repeating myself, see reform not amnesty, immigration terminology, and posts like this and this. Whether you want to call it "amnesty", or "reform", or "regularization", or whatever it's still very bad policy for the U.S.

Regarding the laundry list of supposed requirements in "reform", who thinks those tough provisions will actually be requirements when all is said and done? Obama is very solicitous towards illegal aliens, and his representatives will work to loosen the requirements or just not enforce them. The DNC may also be deceiving about the provisions of the Senate bill; for instance, learning English might only be a requirement to obtain LPR status ( peekURL.com/zxpGwfJ ) although there may have been amendments since the Senate immigration bill was first released. The idea that illegal aliens would go to the "back of the line" is deceptive, no matter the provisions of specific bills: there's no back of the line, as discussed on the immigration line page.

Regarding the second part of their "myth" - the one the DNC didn't answer - any sort of legalization will send a strong message that if you come here illegally and wait several years, you'll get legalized. That will cause many more people to want to come here illegally. What's going to stop them? The same forces that now oppose immigration enforcement aren't about to do a 180 and start supporting strict enforcement. No, they'll do after "reform" what they do now: try to prevent as much enforcement as possible. Just as with the 1986 amnesty, we'll have legalization right away, but the promised enforcement provisions will be watered down or just not enforced.

Want to do something about this? Search Twitter for anyone who promotes the DNC's site, and then direct them to this post or make these points to them. Also contact @mattcompton (DNC digital director) and let him know that you realize how the DNC is trying to deceive.

And, in the very unlikely event that anyone still thinks the DNC is credible on this issue, I want to hear about it: @24AheadDotCom_ .

------
[1] talkingpointsmemo . com/livewire/the-dnc-wants-to-help-you-talk-with-your-republican-uncle-on-thanksgiving