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It might seem surprising today in the era of Donald Trump, but Republicans in the United States once championed immigration and supported pathways to citizenship for undocumented Americans.

In January 1989, Ronald Reagan’s final speech as president was an impassioned ode to the immigrants who made America ““.

Contrast this with Trump, who has normalised dehumanising rhetoric and policies against immigrants. In this year’s presidential campaign, for instance, he has referred to undocumented immigrants as “” who are ““.

Both Trump and his vice presidential running mate, JD Vance, also about Haitian “illegal aliens” eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.

Perhaps most troubling, Trump has to launch “the largest deportation operation in the history of our country”, if he’s elected.

Immigration policies throughout history

Nativism, or anti-immigrant sentiment, has a in American politics.

In 1924, a based on racial and national origins was introduced. This law envisaged America as a white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant nation.

However, there was no restriction on immigrants from the Western Hemisphere. The agricultural and railroad sectors on workers from Mexico.

In 1965, the quota system was replaced by visa for family and employment-based migrants, along with refugee and asylum slots.

Then, as violence and economic instability spread across Central America in the 1970s, there was a in undocumented immigration to the US.

Scholar Leo Chavez argues that in the late 1980s and early 1990s, an alarmist “” became the dominant motif in media discussions of immigration.

This narrative was frequently driven by in states on the US-Mexico border, who derived electoral advantage from amplifying voter anxieties.

The growing popularity of this negative discourse coincided with a significant increase in income inequality – a byproduct of championed by Reagan and other Republicans.

A dramatic shift in Republican rhetoric

In the early-to-mid 20th century, were often the party that supported restrictive immigration and border policies.

However, most Republicans at the national level – strongly supported by business – tended to endorse policies that encouraged the easy flow of workers across the border and .

Prominent conservative Republicans also rejected vilifying rhetoric towards undocumented Americans. They presented all immigrants as for their families, a framing that emphasised a shared vision of the American dream. In this telling, their labour contributed to the economy and America’s growth and prosperity.

Reagan, the most influential conservative of the late 20th century, and .

Reagan also strongly supported bipartisan . In 1986, Congress passed an immigration act that increased border security funding, but also ensured , primarily of Latino background, were able to gain legal status.

Twenty years later, President George W. Bush and Republican Senator John McCain lobbied for a bipartisan bill that would have tightened border enforcement while simultaneously “” an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants. It was narrowly defeated.

This vocal support for immigrants by leading Republicans was striking because for much of the period between the late 1980s and the early 2000s, a of Americans actually wanted immigration levels reduced.

Then, around 2009, a dramatic shift in political rhetoric took place. The Tea Party movement brought and “” towards immigrants centre stage, challenging conservative Republicans from the populist right.

As a result, more and more Republicans began to voice restrictionist and xenophobic and support aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration.

What’s surprising, though, is the number of undocumented immigrants in the US was actually at this time, from 12.2 million in 2007 to 10.7 million in 2016.

Donald Trump and the new nativism

In this worsening anti-immigrant climate, Trump descended a golden escalator in mid-2015 to launch his presidential campaign.

In his speech that day, immigration was front and centre. Trump vowed to “” and accused Mexico of sending “rapists” and “criminals” to America.

His speeches during the presidential campaign were marked by frequent anti-Mexican assertions and calls for visa policies. This hostile stance on immigration was in both the Republican primaries and the general election against Hillary Clinton.

Once in office, Trump then adopted a “” stance towards undocumented immigration. His administration pursued a heartrending that split children and their undocumented parents at the border. This approach was on conservative media outlets such as Fox News.

During his presidency, he also reduced legal immigration by , America’s refugee intake, and introduced on people from Muslim-majority countries.

Policy expert David Bier the goal of Republican lawmakers had shifted:

It really looks like the entire debate about illegality is not the main issue anymore for Republicans in both chambers of Congress. The main goal seems to be to reduce the number of foreigners in the United States to the greatest extent possible.

Indeed, Trump’s vision of the nation had overtly racial overtones.

In one 2018 meeting, he asked why America should accept immigrants from “” like Haiti, El Salvador or the African continent. His preference was for Norwegian migrants.

Immigration as a major election theme

From 2021-2023, surged due to natural disasters, economic downturns and violence in many Latin American and Caribbean nations. Many of the recent arrivals are .

Though the numbers have in 2024, immigration and the border are still one of the for voters across the political spectrum. The issue is particularly important in the key swing state of .

In 2024, Trump’s central immigration promise was encapsulated by the waving signs calling for “Mass Deportations Now” at the Republican ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Convention.

The Trump-Vance ticket has blamed undocumented immigrants for almost and imaginable. The two candidates present them as a dangerous and subversive “other” that cannot be assimilated into mainstream American culture.

Yet Trump, as both and , has worked to prevent the passage of border security legislation. Turmoil on the border .

And his nativism now encompasses all forms of – he has pledged to curb legal channels for people to enter the country, as well.

All of this rhetoric has had a dramatic impact on public opinion. Between 2016 and 2024, the number of people supporting the deportation of undocumented immigrants from 32% to 47%.

In July 2024, also said they wanted to see immigration levels decrease, a 14-point increase in one year.

Many Americans do not perceive immigration as a source of vitality and renewal as they had in the past. Instead, reflecting Trump’s language, they are viewing immigrants as an existential threat to the country’s future.