Even at the time, Ronald Reagan’s “amnesty” plan for immigration wasn’t tremendously popular with some “law-and-order” Republicans. Nonetheless, it was far more in line with conservative values than anything being pushed by the vast majority of the GOP nowadays. 

During last week’s Republican debate, candidates were right to point out that the border is a mess and President Joe Biden’s inaction has created a humanitarian crisis. Images of immigrants crawling through razor wire — often while holding toddlers — is a visual representation of the desperation, human suffering and devastation caused by the current administration’s disastrous approach to illegal immigration. 

However, none of the candidates seemed interested in doing anything to actually fix the crisis other than adding more razor wire for the huddled masses to navigate on their way into our country. 

The fact that so many impoverished and oppressed people are willing to climb under concertina wire, over fences and even past men with guns to get to our land of opportunity should say something about the hope our nation offers the rest of the world. 

It’s also clearly a sign that the process for legal immigration is badly broken. 

When millions of immigrants willfully trust their lives (and the lives of their children) to unscrupulous human traffickers and harsh border obstacles, it’s a sign of just how unnavigable the legal process has become. Virtually no one in the modern GOP, however, seems interested in exploring ways to fix that legal system.

Current immigration laws have become so unmanageable and arbitrary, much of the oppressed and impoverished people of the world simply don’t have the resources, time or financial means to endure it. With such a broken legal avenue for immigrating to our country, it’s unsurprising that millions of people would seek “help” from traffickers and smugglers to scratch and claw their way across the border any way they can. 

Rather than proposing solutions that alter immigration incentives to ensure families can safely come to our nation in an orderly and legal fashion, many within the GOP want simply to construct even more aggressive barriers to entry. 

Conservative attitudes toward amnesty have certainly changed since Ronald Reagan’s day when there was a widespread belief that America’s values were worth sharing rather than walling off. Vivek Ramaswamy, for example, echoed former President Donald Trump’s broad anti-immigration sentiments by suggesting that even birthright citizenship be ended. 

In other words, even when it comes to legal immigration, there is a palpable hostility within the Trump-era GOP. 

One has to look back more than a decade to find the sort of nuanced view on the issue that conservatives used to embrace. Back in the early 2010s, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry was promoting the idea of work visas for illegal immigrants as an alternative to rounding up and deporting millions of people. His proposal came on the heels of George W. Bush’s administration’s call for a “pathway to citizenship” that had generated debate within the GOP about comprehensively reforming the system.  

At its core, both plans would have allowed a legal avenue for immigrants to remain in the country, while providing law enforcement the tools necessary to monitor who arrives across our border and the ability to deport those who violate the terms of the agreement. It was something a bit more nuanced than the fiery rhetoric employed by much of the GOP today.  

Of course, even before Trumpian immigration hysteria gripped the party, Perry was pilloried for being “too soft” on those usurping current (unnavigable) immigration laws. By the 2016 presidential election, the former Texas governor found himself out of step with a conservative movement that had drifted away from the humanist-based approach of Reagan’s era. 

Politically, the GOP has an opportunity to present a workable and compassionate immigration alternative to Biden’s inaction on the issue. An approach to securing the border while overhauling the legal process that drives so many millions into the hands of smugglers would be a vision that stands out in today’s political climate.  

Aggressively increasing immigration controls won’t, by itself, result in an orderly border. It will likely only make the humanitarian concerns more acute as immigrants increasingly turn to cartels, criminals and traffickers to help them climb taller walls, dig under thicker concertina wire and cross more desolate stretches of the desert — especially if legal avenues are further restricted. Taking a strictly “law-and-order” approach to enforcing immigration law will do little to stop the flow of hopeful individuals seeking home in the United States — but it will do plenty to terrify the hard-working individuals who have sought refuge in our incredible nation. 

At one time, at least some minds within the movement seemed to understand this truth. Reagan, Bush and even Perry all understood that our nation’s opportunities should be made available to hopeful people currently laboring under corrupt, despotic or criminal governments elsewhere. 

Unfortunately, in their rush to differentiate themselves from Biden’s inaction — and align themselves with Trump — many within the GOP have adopted a protectionist anti-immigrant mentality that’s far less nuanced than those of previous decades. 

The opposite of Biden’s failed immigration policy, however, doesn’t have to be a nationalistic hostility toward outsiders who want their own slice of the American dream. To end the humanitarian crisis at the border, we needn’t emulate the policies of 1980s Eastern Europe by erecting turrets and towers along our southern edge. We need, instead, to emulate the spirit of Ellis Island and Ronald Reagan’s view of America as a “shining city on a hill” — a place that welcomes those from ruined corners of illiberal nations without forcing them to choose between unnavigable legal channels or deserts laden with razor wire. 

Adding more wire to those deserts isn’t a real solution. Neither Trump’s militarism nor Biden’s inaction offers much comfort to those huddled masses longing for a piece of American freedom — nor do they offer real solutions for those of us lucky enough to already be citizens. 

Michael Schaus is a communications and branding expert based in Las Vegas, Nevada, and founder of Schaus Creative LLC — an agency dedicated to helping organizations, businesses and activists tell their story and motivate change. He has more than a decade of experience in public affairs commentary, having worked as a news director, columnist, political humorist, and most recently as the director of communications for a public policy think tank. Follow him at SchausCreative.com or on Twitter at @schausmichael.