"It is the same impulse that produced the RNC's Growth and Opportunity Project-the so-called autopsy-after Mitt Romney's 2012 loss. Rather than conduct an honest assessment aligned with the populist direction the party would soon take, establishment Republicans used Romney's defeat to sell the base two catastrophic falsehoods: first, that the immigration status quo was somehow good for America; and second, that even if it wasn't, removing millions of illegal aliens was either impossible or politically suicidal."
"At the heart of both moments is the same fundamental misdiagnosis. Illegal immigration is principally a crisis of quantity, rather than quality. Systems buckle under the weight of accumulated foreign populations long before any immigrant commits a headline-grabbing felony. At mass levels, illegal immigration suppresses wages for American workers, especially those without college degrees, overwhelms schools and hospitals, and expands welfare systems quietly and permanently."
Republicans face a definitional crisis over who counts under 'mass deportation' as enforcement shifts toward only criminals. Political and media reactions push establishment Republicans to seek off-ramps when campaign promises meet public backlash. Establishment Republicans have previously framed the immigration status quo as acceptable and mass removals as impractical, misreading populist momentum. The core misdiagnosis treats illegal immigration as a quality problem rather than a quantity problem. Large-scale illegal immigration strains schools, hospitals, and welfare systems, suppresses wages for less-educated American workers, and erodes national cohesion and cultural integrity long before headline crimes occur.
Read at The American Conservative
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