Democrats and Immigration

I'm just ranting here.

The Republican Party has spent the last 20 to 30 years (maybe longer) telling the country and the world that Democrats are soft on immigration.

If Republicans, in an effort to smear Democrats, have spent decades creating the image and telling the country that:

Democrats are soft on immigration;
Democrats have open-border policies;
"Sanctuary cities" are a Democratic giveaway where immigrants get a safe haven and free shit;


From my point of view, if you are genuine about solving immigration (which I know they're not), then this rhetoric makes the problem worse. Many migrants are bound to hear that believe that and make a dash for the US border. If you say it, many people will believe you. For fuck's sake, Republicans got idiots to actually believe the election was stolen and actually storm the capital - like a legit insurrection, a whole rebellion against the constitutional order of the United States.

If they can convince to people rebel against the United States, why can't immigrants (by the hundreds of thousands) believe this rhetoric that Republicans spew about Democrats being soft on immigration? If Republican politicians and TV pundits want their constituents and viewers to legitimately believe that "sanctuary cities" is a Democratic giveaway to migrants, why would migrants not see that and also believe it, and make their way to the border because of it?