Grover Norquist has been amazingly effective with his tax pledge that he has gotten almost all Republican Senators and Members of the House of Representatives to sign.
It turns out that he has thought a fair amount about immigration too. This is a very thoughtful interview from Reason TV. The interviewer is Matt Welch, editor-in-chief of Reason magazine. There’s some interesting information in here about the history of immigration laws. In Grover’s view, the guest worker program under Eisenhower was quite good. His discussion of this occurs at about the 10:30 point. His data are striking.
One little quibble: At about the 1:45 point, Grover incorrectly blames President Carter for the 55 mph national speed limit. The real villain was Richard Nixon.
READER COMMENTS
Chris H
Jul 26 2013 at 8:16pm
I was actually fairly impressed by most of his pro-immigration arguments, I’m not sure I could have said most of that better myself. I wonder though whether he has an ideal of open borders or just far less restrictive borders? He didn’t really specify, which might make sense if he’s wanting to push what has the best chance of actually getting passed (namely a moderate reform and a guest worker program).
Ted Levy
Jul 27 2013 at 2:05am
“The real villain was Richard Nixon”
Fun fact: This is almost always the correct answer…
Philo
Jul 27 2013 at 12:53pm
A great interview. I didn’t realize Grover Norquist was so rational and thoughtful (as well as knowledgeable).
spoons
Jul 27 2013 at 3:46pm
@Ted Any viewer of “Futurama” is especially aware of this.
T Trav
Jul 28 2013 at 5:43am
In the same way that the 55 mph speed limit was inaccurately attributed to President Carter the Roosevelt administration began the Bracero Program during WWII a decade before Eisenhower came to office. Mr. Norquist mentioned the ugly racial and religious aspects of measures that targeted immigrants. The worst of these was “Operation Wetback” undertaken by the Eisenhower administration in 1954 that apprehended over 1,000,000 foreign nationals and American citizens.
David R. Henderson
Jul 29 2013 at 6:00pm
@T Trav,
Thank you. Now that you mention it, I remember reading about that 1954 operation.
Douglass Holmes
Jul 30 2013 at 8:50pm
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