Miami hosts four-day pop-up exhibit seeking ‘common ground’ on immigration

A four-day pop-up exhibit aiming to highlight areas of agreement on immigration will begin Thursday at noon in Miami’s Wynwood Art District.

The exhibit, titled “Common Ground,” is being launched by Americans for Prosperity Foundation and The LIBRE Institute.

The libertarian organizations have historically been funded by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch (now referred to as the Koch network), who long supported candidates aligned with their pro-business, small government worldview. David Koch died in August at the age of 79.

But part of that worldview included a pro-immigration message that has at times been drowned out within the GOP.

Jorge Lima, who serves as Vice President of Policy for Americans For Prosperity Foundation, spoke about what he hopes people will get out of the exhibit’s message: “We believe that immigration is good, full stop. We believe it’s been part of our history and we want it to be part of America’s future.

“If we are closing ourselves off to those talents and those ideas, it’s detrimental to the immigrant as much as it is to the citizen.”

Lima said the exhibit is aimed at fostering a conversation around where individuals agree on immigration, rather than where they may disagree.

“If all we’re doing is just concentrating on what divides us, then the conversation never even starts,” he said. “There are parts where we disagree. But the problem is that we don’t even talk about the areas where we do agree.

“So if the only thing that’s happening right now is the rhetoric around where we disagree, then nothing ever gets started.”

Indeed, polling does show Americans agreeing on seemingly discordant policy positions when it comes to immigration.

Multiple polls in recent years have shown clear majorities support a path for citizenship for immigrants who were brought here illegally as children, also known as “DREAMers.” But a majority of Democrats also support increased border security, sans Donald Trump‘s border wall.

“A lot of folks have an opinion on immigration,” Lima said. “They think something about immigration but they believe that nobody else thinks like them.”

Those polling numbers could present a potential legislative compromise on immigration. Instead, the issue led to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

Lima says that’s due, in part, to elected officials distorting areas where Americans actually agree.

“Washington and the partisan divisiveness has driven all of the communities across the country into this area where nothing’s getting done.”

“We know the majority of [Americans] agree on this. But they haven’t been told that story or they don’t believe that story because of how divisive the rhetoric is. And so we’re trying to be the alternative to that and show folks everywhere where we do agree.”

The exhibit will feature nine different doors covering various topics. Attendees who enter those doors will view a video relating attempting to bolster the “common ground” message on immigration.

It runs from noon until 9 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, then from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Another version of the exhibit will appear in Nashville, Tennessee later this month.

Lima says the exhibit’s goal is not necessarily an immediate political call to action. Rather, he hopes it serves as a starting point to improving the outlook of everyday Americans regarding the immigration issue.

“We need communities to also be more welcoming. We have to remember what it truly means to be a welcoming society and how that enriches all of us when we get to that point,” Lima said.

“This is designed to spark a community conversation more so than it is driving any sort of political conversation. We would love for the community conversation to eventually end in some sort of reform change, some legislative change. But there’s a lot of space in between that.”