Immigration Reform: Candidates George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan

Discussions and debates over U.S. immigration policy have been around for over a century, and longer if you count Benjamin Franklin’s writings on German immigrants. A history of American anti-immigrant bias, starting with Benjamin Franklin’s hatred of the Germans, (Quartz, February 12, 2017) quote Franklin’s views on immigrants:

In writings from that decade, Franklin shared his concerns about the Germans:

They weren’t as smart as the people already living in the colonies.

“Those who come hither are generally of the most ignorant Stupid Sort of their own Nation.”

They were unable to adapt to the local values.

“Not being used to Liberty, they know not how to make a modest use of it.”

They were endangering New England’s whiteness.

“[T]he Spaniards, Italians, French, Russians and Swedes, are generally of what we call a swarthy Complexion; as are the Germans also, the Saxons only excepted.”

America’s immigration story is often presented as a “melting pot” where immigrants from different countries gradually assimilate and merge into a diverse American people. Sometimes that happens but an alternate metaphor to melting pot is an American quilt of immigrant communities holding on to cultures and traditions from the “old country.” There are frictions between differing cultures, but also a endless diversity of styles, attitudes, music, accents, and foods.

In comments by candidates George Bush and Ronald Reagan on immigration reform during 1980s campaign, both call for reforms and Reagan calls for offering work permits to immigrants. This video of Ronald Reagan shows how much the Republican Party has changed on immigration (Vox, January 29, 2017). Note that the questioners concern is with the cost of public education for children of illegal immigrants.