Republicans once championed immigration in the US. Why has the party’s rhetoric – and public opinion – changed so dramatically?

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 “a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas”. 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 “animals” who are “poisoning the blood of our country”. Both Trump and his vice presidential running mate, JD Vance, also repeated a false story about Haitian “illegal aliens” eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. Perhaps most troubling, Trump has pledged to launch “the largest deportation operation in the history of our country”, if he’s elected. A mass deportation policy would rip apart American families and devastate our economy. It's also such a centerpiece of the Republican Party agenda that they had literal signs made. pic.twitter.com/81jC0F7CzO — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 18, 2024 Immigration policies throughout history Nativism, or anti-immigrant sentiment, has a long history in American politics. In 1924, a highly restrictive immigration quota system based...