Well, the author is still a big ol’ liberal. He just understands that unrestricted/illegal immigration keeps wages down—and that ain’t in the interest of the working class he champions.
It’s a step. Ronald Reagan was one of the most effective political leaders of either the right or left since FDR. And one of his cardinal rules was that if he could get half of what he wanted today, he’d take it and worry about the other half tomorrow. In an era of closely divided government this is a battle that will require a certain amount of reasoned persuasion to carry the day. This is a start and I will accept it on that basis.
I read an article on a Nordic communist party that’s getting called Nazis by the liberals ... because it no longer champions massive immigration and social justice. The irony is lost on the social justice types. The communists said the exact same thing - that massive low skill immigration of mostly Muslims and Africans was hurting poor native born, their constituency, by competing for welfare and reducing employment/wages. They also said that social justice’s focus on sexual minorities and luxury issues was a distraction from feeding, housing and taking care of people.
Now if only we could get American communists to agree ...