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Holding Children Blameless, but not Adults—A Politically Feasible Path for Illegal Immigrants

by Jim Kessler and Lanae Erickson Hatalsky

Third Way has and always will support an earned pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants now residing in the United States. But we have come to the conclusion that a blanket path to citizenship is politically impossible—for now and for the foreseeable future. The debate around what to do with this population is often characterized as a choice between deportation and citizenship. But this memo offers a third option that we think reflects moderate values and has the potential to un-stick the debate: holding children blameless by giving them legal status and a path to citizenship, but making adults accountable by offering them a path to legalization but not citizenship.

read more of Holding Children Blameless, but not Adults— A Politically Feasible Path for Illegal Immigrants.

Third Way has created its bipartisan Commitment Campaign to help policymakers and advocates persuade Middle America to strongly support marriage for gay couples. We’re at a tipping point with upcoming battles in the states, in Congress, and in the courts, and a decisive factor will be the depth of support among moderates and Independents for allowing gay couples to marry. Our groundbreaking research on how Americans in the middle view this issue has shown that framing marriage in terms of commitment, not rights, works far better than traditional approaches. The purpose of the Commitment Campaign is to speed up America’s journey towards equality by developing and disseminating messages, strategies, and policies that help policymakers, advocacy groups, the media, and other influencers most effectively win support from the middle on marriage for gay couples. Read more about the Commitment Campaign and Thirdway’s work on this campaign, including studies, resources, and an infographic that illustrates the progress being made in this effort. 

Third Way has created its bipartisan Commitment Campaign to help policymakers and advocates persuade Middle America to strongly support marriage for gay couples.

We’re at a tipping point with upcoming battles in the states, in Congress, and in the courts, and a decisive factor will be the depth of support among moderates and Independents for allowing gay couples to marry. Our groundbreaking research on how Americans in the middle view this issue has shown that framing marriage in terms of commitment, not rights, works far better than traditional approaches. The purpose of the Commitment Campaign is to speed up America’s journey towards equality by developing and disseminating messages, strategies, and policies that help policymakers, advocacy groups, the media, and other influencers most effectively win support from the middle on marriage for gay couples.

Read more about the Commitment Campaign and Thirdway’s work on this campaign, including studies, resources, and an infographic that illustrates the progress being made in this effort.