Opinion: The thorny history of immigration reform

It was January 19, 1989. Ronald Reagan was in his final full day as president of the United States and was making remarks at a presentation of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  As he finished celebrating the achievements of the honorees, he turned to another subject that was on his mind: 

“Since this is the last speech I will give as president, I think it’s fitting I leave one final thought, an observation about a country that I love."

What followed is remembered even today as Reagan’s most majestic description of America as a welcoming harbor for immigrants. Here is just some of what he said:

“(A)nyone from any corner of the earth can come to live in America and become an American…

“We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people -- our strength -- from every country and every corner of the world…here in America, we breathe life into dreams. We create the future… If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.”

For Reagan this was more than rhetoric. In 1986, he had signed the Simpson-Mazzoli Act, a measure which strengthened border security measures and imposed penalties on employers who knowingly hired undocumented workers. But it also gave amnesty to some three million people who’d been living here illegally.

Simpson-Mazzoli didn’t solve the complex problems of immigration and actually exacerbated some of them. But it may be most notable because, to this day, it’s the last bipartisan major immigration measure passed by Congress.

In the almost four decades since, there have been good faith efforts to effect change in our policies:

President George W. Bush campaigned on immigration reform and told Americans in an Oval Office address “America can be a lawful country and a welcoming country at the same time.” He later called his failure to pass comprehensive changes in the immigration system one of the biggest disappointments of his presidency.

In 2012 President Obama created DACA through an executive order. But its promise of giving permanent status to millions of young immigrants has faced endless legal challenges and partisan attacks ever since. 

That’s the historical context in which the current negotiations between the White House and Senate to pass strict new immigration and border security measures are unfolding. Hanging in the balance is billions of dollars of funding for Ukraine. But a sweeping solution is unlikely because Democrats and Republicans seem to no longer able to agree on just what America stands for. 

For President Reagan the answer was clear:

“We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people -- our strength -- from every country and every corner of the world. And by doing so we continuously renew and enrich our nation…the last best hope of man on earth.”