Peter Robinson: Immigration ... What Would Reagan Do?
[Mr. Robinson, a former speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan, is a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and an editor of Ricochet.com.]
In a television advertisement airing in Arizona, John McCain, running for a fifth term in the Senate, strolls through the desert near Nogales with Paul Babeu, sheriff of Pinal County. Beside the two men rises a section of the border fence that the Department of Homeland Security has been erecting to keep undocumented Mexicans in Mexico. "We're outmanned," Mr. Babeu tells the senator, who nods knowingly. "Of all the illegals in America, more than half come through Arizona."
Messrs. McCain and Babeu chat for a moment about Sen. McCain's "Ten-Point Border Security Plan." Then Sen. McCain, reciting one of the 10 points, delivers the line with which the 30-second spot climaxes: "Complete the danged fence."
John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
Anyone who retains a high opinion of Reagan, whom John McCain himself has described as one of his heroes, can hardly help wondering. In 1986, Reagan signed legislation granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. Instead of denouncing the undocumented, Reagan invited them to become citizens. If Reagan was right then, isn't Sen. McCain wrong now? To attempt an answer, I've listed what we know for certain about my old boss and immigration. Then I've done my best to figure out what each item tells us about where Reagan would have stood on the issue today.
What we know for certain, item one: Ronald Reagan was no kind of nativist. In a 1977 radio talk, for instance, Reagan dismissed "the illegal alien fuss," arguing that we need immigrant labor. "One thing is certain in this hungry world," he said. "No regulation or law should be allowed if it results in crops rotting in the fields for lack of harvesters."
Reagan's attitude toward the growing Hispanic influence in American life? When announcing his bid for the White House in 1979 he asserted plainly, "I favor statehood for Puerto Rico"—scarcely the position of an Anglo chauvinist. And Reagan again and again declared that a basic, even radical, openness to immigration represents a defining aspect of our national identity. Describing America as "a shining city" in his 1989 farewell address, for example, he said, "[a]nd if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here."
What item one tells us, I believe, is that Reagan would have inclined toward reforms like those President George W. Bush proposed in 2006. Under these proposals, illegal immigrants who wished to remain in this country permanently would have received a long but explicit path to citizenship. Those who wished instead to return eventually to their countries of origin would have received the right to register as guest workers. Virtually all illegal immigrants would thus have been dealt with generously. Reagan would have found such a resolution satisfying.
At least in principle.
Which brings us to what we know for certain, item two: The grant of amnesty represented only one aspect of the 1986 legislation Reagan signed into law. The rest of the Immigration Reform and Control Act spelled out provisions—aggressive provisions—for bringing illegal immigration to an end.
"The amnesty dealt with illegals who were already here," as Edwin Meese III, then attorney general, recently explained to me. "The rest of the '86 act was intended to get control of the problem so we didn't have any more coming in." The legislation mandated an increase of 50% in personnel guarding the border. And it made hiring undocumented workers a crime, requiring employers to attest to their workers' legal status.
Did Reagan regret these provisions? Did he indicate in any way that he signed them into law reluctantly? If so, the evidence has eluded me...
Read entire article at WSJ
In a television advertisement airing in Arizona, John McCain, running for a fifth term in the Senate, strolls through the desert near Nogales with Paul Babeu, sheriff of Pinal County. Beside the two men rises a section of the border fence that the Department of Homeland Security has been erecting to keep undocumented Mexicans in Mexico. "We're outmanned," Mr. Babeu tells the senator, who nods knowingly. "Of all the illegals in America, more than half come through Arizona."
Messrs. McCain and Babeu chat for a moment about Sen. McCain's "Ten-Point Border Security Plan." Then Sen. McCain, reciting one of the 10 points, delivers the line with which the 30-second spot climaxes: "Complete the danged fence."
John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
Anyone who retains a high opinion of Reagan, whom John McCain himself has described as one of his heroes, can hardly help wondering. In 1986, Reagan signed legislation granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. Instead of denouncing the undocumented, Reagan invited them to become citizens. If Reagan was right then, isn't Sen. McCain wrong now? To attempt an answer, I've listed what we know for certain about my old boss and immigration. Then I've done my best to figure out what each item tells us about where Reagan would have stood on the issue today.
What we know for certain, item one: Ronald Reagan was no kind of nativist. In a 1977 radio talk, for instance, Reagan dismissed "the illegal alien fuss," arguing that we need immigrant labor. "One thing is certain in this hungry world," he said. "No regulation or law should be allowed if it results in crops rotting in the fields for lack of harvesters."
Reagan's attitude toward the growing Hispanic influence in American life? When announcing his bid for the White House in 1979 he asserted plainly, "I favor statehood for Puerto Rico"—scarcely the position of an Anglo chauvinist. And Reagan again and again declared that a basic, even radical, openness to immigration represents a defining aspect of our national identity. Describing America as "a shining city" in his 1989 farewell address, for example, he said, "[a]nd if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here."
What item one tells us, I believe, is that Reagan would have inclined toward reforms like those President George W. Bush proposed in 2006. Under these proposals, illegal immigrants who wished to remain in this country permanently would have received a long but explicit path to citizenship. Those who wished instead to return eventually to their countries of origin would have received the right to register as guest workers. Virtually all illegal immigrants would thus have been dealt with generously. Reagan would have found such a resolution satisfying.
At least in principle.
Which brings us to what we know for certain, item two: The grant of amnesty represented only one aspect of the 1986 legislation Reagan signed into law. The rest of the Immigration Reform and Control Act spelled out provisions—aggressive provisions—for bringing illegal immigration to an end.
"The amnesty dealt with illegals who were already here," as Edwin Meese III, then attorney general, recently explained to me. "The rest of the '86 act was intended to get control of the problem so we didn't have any more coming in." The legislation mandated an increase of 50% in personnel guarding the border. And it made hiring undocumented workers a crime, requiring employers to attest to their workers' legal status.
Did Reagan regret these provisions? Did he indicate in any way that he signed them into law reluctantly? If so, the evidence has eluded me...