Republicans Caused the Immigration Problem (on Purpose)

The GOP's five decades of obstruction in pursuit of power

American Dictator, Donald Trump

Donald Trump and his MAGA followers consistently blame “liberal Democrats” for the current immigration problem. These claims are convenient (for them) because they get to portray themselves as the never-ending victims of an elite Democratic cabal who want to “import” illegals so they can vote for Democrats, thereby depriving Republican politicians, and more importantly, the millions of GOP voters, of political power for all eternity.

“The Dems have imported massive numbers of illegals to swing states. Triple digit increases over the past 4 years! Their STATED plan is to give them citizenship as soon as possible, turning all swing states Dem. America would then become a one-party, deep blue socialist state.”

– Elon Musk, Oct 25, 2024

Statements like Musk’s sound scary, and they appeal to economically struggling voters who desperately need someone else to blame for their woes. Never mind that the GOP elite themselves are the ones who wrecked the middle class in their pursuit of spending and tax cuts for billionaires and massive corporations. The fear of change, of an “invasion” from people who are not like them (meaning not white) is a powerful emotional message that resonates especially well with poorly-educated¹ Republican voters.

The primary reason the GOP sabotaged these efforts is simple: immigrants have no political power and that makes them a useful scapegoat for those seeking to gain or hold political power. Authoritarian regimes and dictators often rise up on the backs of perceived grievances against some other group, whether it’s Gypsies, Jews and homosexuals (Hitler in Nazi Germany), Muslims from another sect (Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and many other middle east conflicts), or “migrant laborers from the south,” Communists, and later “the West,” meaning the United States and Europe (in Putin’s Russia).

Donald Trump’s and MAGAs’ primary targets today are illegal immigrants and LGBTQ (especially transgender) folks.

By scapegoating vulnerable populations, authoritarians get to portray themselves as the heroes of their nation’s story. In their propaganda, it is only they who are uniquely able to “save” their nations from the problems they themselves manufactured. The cure to the citizens’ woes runs through the authoritarian’s self-proclaimed strength and with their simplistic and seemingly common-sense solutions (“We’re gonna deport them all!”) that no one else is strong or brave enough to implement.

The Truth About American Immigration Policies

The truth about America’s immigration is starkly different than Trump’s lies about it. Over the past 50 years, Democrats have made at least seven major attempts to work with Republicans in a bipartisan manner on immigration reform. Five of the seven efforts were derailed by GOP resistance or outright obstruction.

Below, I take a look at the facts of these efforts from 1977-2025. While some of them reached the stage of formal agreements or bills, others were negotiations that collapsed before finalization.

• 1977–1980: Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy (SCIRP)

  • Agreement: Established in 1978 under President Jimmy Carter, SCIRP was a bipartisan commission chaired by Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, with members from both parties, including Senators Edward Kennedy (D) and Alan Simpson (R). Tasked with studying immigration policy, it produced a 1981 report recommending a mix of legalization for undocumented immigrants, stronger border enforcement, and employer sanctions for hiring unauthorized workers. This laid the groundwork for the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). While not a legislative agreement, it was a significant bipartisan effort to shape policy, back in an era when most Republicans actually cared about finding pragmatic solutions.

  • GOP Sabotage: None directly. The commission’s work was consensus-driven, and its recommendations were broadly supported by both parties. However, some conservative Republicans, including those aligned with emerging anti-immigrant sentiments, expressed skepticism about legalization, which foreshadowed later resistance. No formal legislation emerged during this period, so there was no specific agreement to sabotage.

  • Why: Immigration was not yet a deeply polarizing issue, and the GOP lacked a unified anti-immigration faction. The commission’s non-binding nature meant there was little immediate political risk, allowing bipartisan cooperation.

• 1982–1984: Simpson-Mazzoli Bill (Precursor to IRCA)

  • Agreement: Senators Alan Simpson (R) and Romano Mazzoli (D) introduced the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1982, a bipartisan effort to address illegal immigration. The bill proposed legalizing undocumented immigrants who arrived before a cutoff date, strengthening border security, and penalizing employers for hiring undocumented workers. It passed the Senate in 1982 and 1983 but stalled in the House. Negotiations continued, leading to the successful 1986 IRCA.

  • GOP Sabotage: The bill faced resistance from some House Republicans, particularly conservatives, who opposed legalization as "amnesty" (a precursor to the racist propaganda to come later) and demanded stronger enforcement provisions. In 1982, House GOP members, influenced by early anti-immigrant groups like the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), pushed amendments to weaken legalization provisions, delaying progress. In 1984, House Republicans, alongside some Democrats, stalled the bill over concerns about cost and enforcement mechanisms, forcing further negotiations. The bill’s eventual passage (as IRCA) in 1986 required concessions, including stricter enforcement measures to appease GOP critics.

  • Why: Emerging conservative factions within the GOP, responding to perceived concerns about immigration’s economic and cultural impacts, viewed legalization as rewarding illegal behavior. The early 1980s recession allowed them to amplify fears about job competition and Republicans prioritized enforcement over compromise. Political caution ahead of the 1984 election also played a role, as GOP members avoided alienating their base.

• 1986: Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA)

  • Agreement: Signed into law under Republican President Ronald Reagan, IRCA was a bipartisan effort that legalized about 3 million undocumented immigrants while strengthening border enforcement and introducing penalties for hiring undocumented workers. It emerged from negotiations between Democrats, who prioritized legalization because of the economic benefits in the labor force, and Republicans, who emphasized enforcement.

  • GOP Sabotage: None. This is a rare success story as it shows bipartisan cooperation was possible. The bill passed with support from both parties, but subsequent GOP resistance to similar comprehensive reforms suggests this was an outlier, driven by Reagan’s willingness to compromise and less intense partisan polarization at the time.

• 2005–2006: Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (Kennedy-Kyl Bill)

  • Agreement: The Senate debated the bipartisan Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, co-sponsored by Senators Ted Kennedy (D) and Jon Kyl (R). It proposed enhanced border security, a guest worker program, and a pathway to legalization for undocumented immigrants. A precursor, the 2006 Senate bill, passed with a filibuster-proof majority, including support from then-Senator Mitch McConnell whose long history of craven hypocrisy and obstruction to solving America’s problems is one for the history books.

  • GOP Sabotage: The 2007 Kennedy-Kyl bill failed to overcome a Republican-led filibuster in the Senate. House Republicans also passed an enforcement-only bill (the Sensenbrenner bill) in 2005, refusing to reconcile it with the Senate’s comprehensive approach. The sabotage stemmed from conservative backlash against legalization provisions, once again labeled with the emotional “amnesty” term by right-wing activists and talk radio, which pressured GOP senators to block the bill. House Republicans, responding to their base’s anti-immigrant sentiment, which they themselves had fostered and supported for decades, refused to consider the Senate’s compromise, prioritizing a hardline enforcement stance.

  • Why: The GOP’s base, particularly conservative activists, viewed legalization as rewarding illegal immigration without any regard for the fact that these workers could have come to work in the U.S. legally if the GOP had cooperated with Democrats twenty years earlier. With the 2006 midterms approaching, Republicans feared electoral backlash from their constituents whom they had primed or decades to scapegoat immigrants. The rise of a very vocal and extremist anti-immigrant right within the GOP made compromise politically risky.

• 2007: Bipartisan House Negotiations (Becerra-Johnson Group)

  • Agreement: Democratic Representative Xavier Becerra and Republican Representative Sam Johnson led a bipartisan House group starting in 2007 to negotiate comprehensive immigration reform, including border security and legalization provisions. The group aimed to build on earlier Senate efforts and included members like Luis Gutiérrez (D) and Paul Ryan (R).

  • GOP Sabotage: By 2013, six years later, key Republican members, including Sam Johnson and John Carter, withdrew from the group under pressure from the radical Tea Party faction, rendering the effort defunct. The Tea Party’s influence, fueled by GOP-stoked cultural anxiety over immigration (82% of Tea Party identifiers expressed fear of undocumented immigrants), pushed House Republicans to abandon compromise. Then-Speaker John Boehner also refused to bring any Senate-passed reform to a House vote, citing lack of support among his caucus.

  • Why: The Tea Party’s rise after 2008 shifted the GOP toward a more hardline, anti-immigrant stance. House Republicans, facing primary challenges from ultra conservative activists, prioritized their re-election over bipartisan reform. The GOP’s growing dependence on a white, working-class base made legalization politically toxic.

• 2013: Senate’s Gang of Eight Bill (S.744)

  • Agreement: The bipartisan "Gang of Eight" (four Democrats, four Republicans, including Marco Rubio) crafted S.744, which passed the Senate 68-32 in 2013 with 14 Republican votes. The bill included border security funding, a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and reforms to legal immigration. It was seen as a landmark bipartisan achievement under President Obama.

  • GOP Sabotage: House Republicans, led by Speaker John Boehner, refused to bring S.744 to a vote, effectively killing it. Despite widespread public support for comprehensive reform, the GOP-controlled House once again prioritized enforcement-only approaches, citing concerns over “amnesty” and distrust of Obama’s enforcement commitments. Rubio himself distanced himself from the bill after right-wing media criticized it as too lenient.

  • Why: The GOP’s refusal was driven by electoral strategy and internal divisions. Post-2012, after Mitt Romney’s loss in the presidential election, some Republicans saw outreach to Latino voters as necessary, but the Tea Party and conservative media (e.g., Rush Limbaugh) framed the bill with the tried and true propaganda as rewarding illegal immigration. House Republicans, fearing primary challenges, avoided any vote that could alienate their white racist base. The 2014 midterms amplified this caution, as GOP candidates made immigration into a wedge issue.

• 2018: Bipartisan Senate Immigration Deal (Rounds-Graham Proposal)

  • Agreement: Senators Mike Rounds (R) and Lindsey Graham (R), along with Democrats, negotiated a bipartisan deal to provide $25 billion for border security, including a border wall, in exchange for protections for "Dreamers" (undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children). The proposal aimed to balance GOP enforcement priorities with Democratic demands for legalization.

  • GOP Sabotage: The Trump White House pressured Republicans to abandon the deal, insisting on stricter enforcement measures and opposing any Dreamer protections. Trump knew that a successful bipartisan immigration solution would remove the issue from his authoritarian tool chest. He had absolutely no interest in solving the underlying problem because while that would help America the nation, it would harm Trump the politician. Senate Republicans, following Trump’s lead, withdrew support, and the proposal collapsed before reaching a vote.

  • Why: Trump’s influence over the GOP was at its peak during his first term, and his administration saw immigration as a winning campaign issue for 2018 midterms. By rejecting compromise, Trump and Senate Republicans kept the border issue alive to rally their base, portraying Democrats as weak on immigration, even though the GOP killed the agreement. The deal’s failure also aligned with Trump’s broader strategy of avoiding legislative any wins for Democrats even at the expense of harming American citizens and the economy.

• 2024: Senate Border Security and Foreign Aid Bill

  • Agreement: A bipartisan Senate team, including James Lankford (R) and Chris Murphy (D), negotiated a bill combining border security reforms with aid for Ukraine and Israel. The bill included stricter asylum standards to appeal to Republican voters, increased enforcement funding, and emergency border closure authority, but excluded legalization provisions like Dreamer protections. In essence, it gave the GOP nearly everything they had been asking for for the past 40 years, in exchange for Ukraine and Israel funding. It was endorsed by groups like the National Border Patrol Council.

  • GOP Sabotage: Former President Trump, the likely 2024 GOP nominee, publicly opposed the bill, calling it insufficiently tough. House Speaker Mike Johnson declared it "dead on arrival" in the House, and Senate Republicans, following Trump’s lead, voted against it (43-50 in May 2024, after a 49-50 failure in February). Only four Republicans supported it initially, and even fewer in the second vote.

  • Why: The GOP’s sabotage was primarily driven by electoral strategy ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Trump, as the frontrunner for the GOP nomination, saw immigration as a potent campaign issue to rally his base. By framing the bill as insufficiently strict, he maintained the narrative of Democratic weakness on border security, a key talking point for Republican voters. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Republicans, scared of Trump’s influence, prioritized party unity and electoral advantage over bipartisan compromise. The bill’s passage would have handed President Biden a legislative victory, potentially weakening the GOP’s ability to campaign on border chaos in swing states. Additionally, conservative media and grassroots activists criticized the bill as inadequate, pressuring GOP senators to avoid any compromise that could be seen as softening their hardline stance. Trump’s explicit opposition, echoed in posts on X (e.g., calling it a “Democrat trap”), amplified this pressure, ensuring the bill’s failure to maintain immigration as a wedge issue for the election.

“They keep bringing up a phony bill. The bill was horrible… It was a horrible bill, stupid bill. As president, it is called extreme power. You have extreme power. You can just say close the border.”

– Donald Trump, Feb, 2024 speech about the Senate Border Security and Foreign Aid Bill which he singlehandedly killed.

Don’t be fooled. The MAGA party, and the GOP before it, do not support any practical solutions to the broken U.S. immigration system. If the system was fixed (and let’s face it, it’s not rocket science), MAGAs would not be able to use it as a wedge issue to divide and destroy America so that they can gain and maintain their power.

MAGA must be defeated and to do that, Democrats have to play by the new rules. Read my Organizing Blueprint to Destroy MAGA series on how to save America from MAGA authoritarianism (link to the final article in the series follows).

It’s time to get to work. It’s almost, but not yet, too late to turn the tide. We are stronger than them because we actually care about America and our children's’ futures and we are on the right side.

Together, we will prevail.

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1. Destroying America’s public education system is another hallmark of the GOP’s decades-long attack on America. An uneducated electorate is much easier to manipulate than citizens who know how to think or themselves.