Article says that Reagan was a proponent of granting amnesty to illegal aliens.
What the elites are really afraid of is that Trump is assembling something like the Reagan coalition that crosses party and demographic lines on the issue of the illegal alien inundation.
The citizens want The Cheap Labor Express stopped and see Trump as the right wrench to throw into the wheels.
IIRC, Reagan got conned into it, with many promises that were never kept.
We all know how that goes, don’t we?
Reagan and all Republicans/conservatives (except Pat Buchanan) held the Wall Street Journal position on immigration pre-2002. That includes Rush, Levin, Hannity, Daddy Bush, Dubya, Pat Robertson, Ron Paul, Newt, Heritage, CATO,and on and on.
Historically labor unions were tough on immigration pre-2002 and based their position on Malthus-Guttmacher.
Historically Republicans and conservatives of all stripes rejected Malthus-Guttmacher pre-2002 (except Pat Buchanan).
True. Reagan was bad on immigration in general. He had a sentimental, Kennedy-like view of America as “nation of immigrants.” He never expressed any concern for preserving the traditional ethnic character of the country.
This article is dishonest about the history of the conservative movement. Racial issues were the main reason why Southerners and “ethnic” Northern voters became Republicans during the 1970’s. Democrats were seen as the party of busing, anti-white discrimination and black crime. Many conservatives today are in deep denial about this. They want to believe that blue collar workers became conservatives because of free trade and low capital gains taxes.
Those in Congress understood that you couldn't keep doing this type of thing again and again. It wasn't intended to serve as a springboard for future amnesties.
And the '86 amnesty proved to be a complete bust that wound up making things even worse.