Although presidents have long disagreed about national policy, many agreed that unrestricted immigration to the United States would ultimately harm Americans and legal immigrants already in the country. .
In particular, five presidents famously warned against mass immigration to the United States, despite disagreements on a variety of other issues.
Calvin Coolidge
In the early 1920s, President Calvin Coolidge (Republican) drastically reduced annual legal immigration levels to the United States, stabilizing the country’s population after decades of record immigration growth.
Coolidge, December 1923 addresssaid that immigration levels should not exceed America’s ability to admit new arrivals and that “America must remain American.”
“American institutions are based solely on good citizenship. They were created by people with self-government backgrounds,” Coolidge said.
New arrivals should be limited by our ability to absorb them into the ranks of good citizenship. America must remain American.For this I [sic] To this end, it is necessary to continue immigration restriction policies. It would be good to make such immigration selective in nature, with some sort of testing at source based on prior census and naturalization records. Both methods guarantee admission to those with the greatest ability and best intentions to become citizens. I believe that the current economic and social situation justifies restrictions on who can be admitted. Further security should be provided by laws requiring immediate registration of all foreign nationals. People who do not want to share in the American spirit should not settle in America.
bill clinton
When Democratic President Bill Clinton, in his 1995 State of the Union address, denounced mass immigration to the United States as a disservice to Americans who were forced to pick up the tab, Democratic and Republican lawmakers applauded. Ta.
“All Americans are understandably concerned about the large number of illegal immigrants entering our country. They are holding jobs that would otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants. The public services they use impose a burden on taxpayers,” Clinton said.
Going a step further, in June 1995, Clinton proudly supported Recommendations made by the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, which was chaired by a then-congressman who was an icon of the civil rights movement. Barbara Jordan (D-TX).
Committee Recommendation It has cut legal immigration levels in half, admitting about 500,000 immigrants a year, while implementing an aggressive assimilation process for new arrivals and expediting the deportation of illegal immigrants.
theodore roosevelt
President Theodore Roosevelt (Republican) laid out his vision for regulating immigration to the United States in April. 1894 essay Titled “True Americanism,” he argued that assimilation is essential to the foundation of American principles.
Roosevelt wrote:
The great wave of immigration to our shores has brought much good and much evil on its train. And whether good or evil will prevail will depend primarily on the fact that these newcomers will so eagerly throw themselves into the national life of our country that they will cease to be Europeans and become like the rest of us. It depends on whether you become an American or not. More than a third of the people in the northern states are foreign-born or foreign-born. A huge number of them are completely Americanized, and they stand on exactly the same plane as the descendants of the Puritans, Cavaliers, or Knickerbockers among us, and take to the fullest the honorable part of the work of the nation. I am fulfilling my role.
But where immigrants and the sons of immigrants cling to their Old World discourses, customs, ways of life, and habits of thought, instead of truly and sincerely casting their lot with us; If left unchecked, they thereby harm both themselves and us. If they are alien elements, do not assimilate and have interests separate from ours, then they are just an obstacle to the flow of our national life, and moreover, they are deprived of anything from themselves. You can’t even make a profit. In fact, we ourselves suffer from their perversity, but it is they who really suffer. For European immigrants, converting to American citizenship is an immense benefit. To bear an American name means to bear the most honorable title. And those who do not believe so have no need to bear that name at all. And if he is from Europe, he had better return to Europe soon.
barack obama
In his 2006 book “Audacity of Hope,” then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Illinois), who would go on to win the 2008 presidential election, sought to reduce illegal and legal immigration in order to avoid lowering wages for working and lower-middle class Americans. He said it needs to be regulated.
“The number of immigrants added to the workforce each year is on a scale not seen in this country in more than 100 years,” President Obama wrote in his book, going on to write: [sic] While workers have brought some benefits to the economy, it also threatens to further depress wages for blue-collar Americans. [and] It puts a strain on an already overburdened safety net.
“The number of immigrants added to the labor force each year is on a scale not seen in this country in more than 100 years.”
— Barack Obama, “The Audacity of Hope” pic.twitter.com/R10Np1r2m1— NumbersUSA (@NumbersUSA) August 30, 2020
donald trump
Perhaps most notable for his immigration policies, President Donald Trump campaigned in 2016 to halt immigration, increase deportations of illegal aliens, build a border wall, and hire more Americans. The plight of angel families has been successfully campaigned for, including the abolition of the work visa program.
In August 2016, President Trump address About the immigrants in Phoenix, Arizona who helped define the Republican Party.
“The fundamental problem with our immigration system is that it serves the needs of wealthy donors, political activists, and powerful politicians,” President Trump said.
Please tell someone it doesn’t help. That doesn’t help the American people. No use. When politicians talk about immigration reform, they usually mean amnesty, open borders, and lower wages. Immigration reform should have a completely different meaning. That should mean improving laws and policies to make Americans’ lives better.
If we want our immigration system to work, we must be prepared to speak fearlessly and honestly about these important and highly sensitive issues. For example, we are talking about the record pace of immigration growth and the impact it has on their jobs, wages, housing, schools, taxes, and general living conditions, including working people and forgotten workers. We must listen to the concerns that people have. These are legitimate concerns expressed by decent, patriotic citizens of all backgrounds. We also have to be honest about the fact that not everyone who tries to join our country will be able to assimilate successfully. Sometimes things don’t work out. It is our right as a sovereign nation to choose the immigrants we think are most likely to thrive, prosper, and love us.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Please email jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
