Ronald Reagan on Open Borders
By Mary Theroux | Thursday September 29, 2011 at 1:35 PM PDT
From the Republican presidential primary debate, April 23, 1980, excerpted in today’s Wall Street Journal:
Ronald Reagan: Can I add to that? I think the time has come that the United States and our neighbors, particularly our neighbor to the south, should have a better understanding and a better relationship than we’ve ever had....
Rather than talking about putting up a fence, why don’t we work out some recognition of our mutual problems? Make it possible for them to come here legally with a work permit—and then while they’re working and earning here, they pay taxes here. And when they want to go back, they can go back. And open the border both ways by understanding their problems.
Update: Here’s the video of the exchange between Bush and Reagan:
Tags: American History, Budget and Tax Policy, Business, California, Civil Liberties, Civil Society, Conservatism, Family, Immigration, Morality, Natural Law, Personal Liberty 
Great post! Not all readers can see the WSJ excerpt, so they might want to see the exchange between Reagan and Bush, where both come off as much more humane on this issue than all too many folks today. The audience, too, seems more receptive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixi9_cciy8w
Anthony Gregory | Sep 29, 2011 | Reply
We have the benefit of 30 years experience to explain the change.
Further, government benefits have become more pervasive and costly so open borders costs us much more than was known at that time.
JimQ | Oct 1, 2011 | Reply
Dear Jim:
The 30 years’ experience is one that needs to be reversed: 30 more years of a failed drug war, and 30 more years of an ever-growing welfare state that is no more a favor to the native-born than it is to immigrants. If open borders force conservatives to realize that we can’t afford the welfare state and turn against it, so much the better.
Don’t blame those seeking opportunity. Blame the politicians who so eagerly offer our hard-earned wages to subsidize those who don’t earn them.
Best wishes,
Mary
Mary L. G. Theroux | Oct 2, 2011 | Reply
Mary
I liked the post and I especially liked your reply to Jim. Immigration is not the problem. Entitlements and freebies and the Drug War are.
Erne Lewis | Oct 5, 2011 | Reply
Moreover, we do not have an immigration “problem” in the United States... we have an immigration symptom, to domestic and foreign policy “problems”. Fix the problem and the symptom goes away. Sadly, while he “gets it” on just about every other issue, the Hon. Ron Paul would be the perfect candidate if he could just understand Regan’s point…
joe4liberty | Oct 10, 2011 | Reply
Excellent points. This anti immigrant situation is so terrible and it is so pervasive. Some complain that we are wrong to not distinguish between legal and illegal, but that is ignoring the history of a much more liberal policy and the time and expense requirements today making “legal” entry almost an impossibility. Please keep writing and speaking whether professionally or privately. This issue is critical.
Lynn Atherton Bloxham | Oct 14, 2011 | Reply