With the record high influx of illegal immigration during President Biden’s administration, the question of border policy has never been so important. Over the last couple of decades, though, many conservatives have focused only on the issue of illegal immigration. Legal immigration is an equally important topic, but high rates of legal immigration are just as impactful for our elections.
The late Phyllis Schlafly warned that mass legal immigration would doom a conservative Republican party. The principles that make American society work are unique to the upbringing we are privileged to as Americans. We get to immerse ourselves in our nation’s history and the ideas of the American founding as we grow up. An immigrant, legal or illegal, does not share this experience of immersion in the classical liberal ideas that gird the foundations of this country. This means that immigrants tend to be overwhelmingly liberal.
Phyllis said, “that immigrants and their children tend to be liberal on matters of public policy – and this is why they disproportionately vote democrat – is widely accepted and not a subject of any dispute among scholars and reporters.” Phyllis cited many political scientists who broke down the political leanings of minority groups. One scholar pointed out that Latino support for the Democratic party is based on their policy preferences and is unlikely to change “unless the parties fundamentally change their issue positions.”
“Continually adding millions of voters whose core principles are largely in line with the Democrats’ liberal agenda,” Phyllis said, “has profound implications for Republican electoral prospects and the future direction of public policy.” The question of immigration, then, should not only be a question of legal versus illegal immigration. Rather, it should be a question of whether or not public policy will import millions of new liberal voters that would not be here otherwise.
