[Music] we're kind of obsessed with this graph it shows the percentage of Americans who say immigrants strength in the United States we're all familiar with this end Republicans and Democrats can't agree on anything but what was happening down at this end how did we start so close and get to well build that war build that war well that's what this video is about the path to political polarization this dramatic split has left the American Immigration system in disarray and understanding how we got into this mess might just help us find a way out to start
let's go back to a moment that might seem totally unimaginable today these are good people strong people it's 1980 and the two Republican Front Runners are having a debate rather than talking about putting up offense why don't we work out some recognition of our mutual problems we're creating a whole society of really honorable decent family loving people wait what yeah the top two Republicans are basically having an empathy competition empathy for immigrants that is I think the time has come that the United States and our neighbors should have a better understanding and a better relationship
than we've ever had and this was pretty normal at the time many Republicans welcomed immigration especially the legal kind and viewed immigrants as a source of cheap labor and on the left illegal aliens don't have the right to be here they broke the law to get here they never intended to become a part of our social community and they are not entitled to benefit might be hard to believe but that was a former democratic congresswoman Democrats often said things that might sound totally bizarre today they have no intention to integrate the jobs they hold might
otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants the public service they use impose burdens on our taxpayers who compete for housing who compete for classroom space sure there were some sharp divisions within each party but time and again the winner was bipartisanship this bill says simply those wishing to immigrate to America shall be admitted on the basis of their skills this bill is the most comprehensive it is the most comprehensive reform of our immigration laws in 66 years so for the last part of the 20th century both parties and their voters were largely in lock
St up it helped that immigration wasn't such a big deal yet but then look what happened so what caused this split yeah 9911 was a factor but more important was the fast changing nature of immigration itself the number of foreign born people in America has quadruple since the 1960s The Immigrant population was booming and it was looking less like this and more like this but it wasn't just who was coming it was where they went for years immigrants were concentrated in just a handful of States but from the 1990s through the 2000s immigration went from
being a regional issue to a national issue in these states the Immigrant population at least dou Americans were walking into their grocery stores and for the first time hearing Spanish Hindi Cantonese tal some felt under siege I am tired of people coming across with impunity we don't know who's here we don't know what diseases they have there's 360 million Americans that need to start standing up for their country before we give it away Republican politicians increasingly played on those fears aggravated felons who have sexually abused a minor are eligible for amnesty under this bill and
they were rewarded with a larger share of the white vote propelling the party further away from the center voters found themselves at a fork in the road for Republicans immigration was increasingly a law enforcement and national security issue and for Democrats it became more of a humanitarian and human rights issue equal rights for everybody an opportunity for them to be able to be here legally immigration was becoming a hyperpolarizing issue we have a comprehensive strategy to reform our immigration system President George W bush spent years trying to forge bipartisan consensus and we've got to continue
to work together to get that done and I'm optimistic that Congress will rise to the occasion but he was styed by members of his own party who opposed giving undocumented immigrants a path to legal status MO is not agreed to American people understand the status quo is unacceptable when it comes to our immigration laws a lot of us worked hard to see if we couldn't find common ground it it didn't work this was a big turning point for the immigration debate the moderate middle was becoming a very lonely place it's not that politicians didn't keep
trying to meet in the center and fix things this guy certainly did what I can guarantee is that we will have in the first year and immigration bill that I saw but he failed too and we're all familiar with what happened next they're bringing drugs they're bringing crime they rap we have become a Dumping Ground for the entire world sends it people they're not sending their best Build That Wall Build That Wall Trump inspired a wave of CopyCat it's time to militarize this border once Fringe ideas were now certifiably mainstream president Trump's wall blow up
the cartel's drug tunnels and surveillance drones and deploy the Arizona National Guard to stop illegals from entering but guess what it's not just conservatives Democrats have aggressively moved away from the center even more than Republicans immigrants and refugees are an enormous blessing talking about deporting 11 million people is so outrageous if you be so kind raise your hand if you think it should be a civil offense rather than a crime AC cross the border without documentation top officials in the Biden Administration have gone to absurd lengths to avoid calling a spade a spade is there
a crisis at our Southern border Senator uh there is a very sign that's a yes or no question there's a very significant is there a crisis there is a very significant challenge that we are facing yes or no is there crisis I believe I've addressed that question so you're refusing to answer not to give Ted Cruz too much credit here but it's a fair question the answer of course is yes it's a crisis here's our opinion immigrants bring energy and new ideas America faces a population slowdown and immigration can help maintain a robust labor force
we build you buildings we do your Roofing we clean your ditches but we also need to strengthen the Border in part by overhauling an asylum system on the verge of collapse the immigration system is broken but we can fix it if there was only the political will why don't we work out some recognition of our mutual problems make it possible for them to come here legally with a work permit and nearly all Americans have ancestors who Brave the oceans Liberty loving Risk Takers in search of an ideal we love America we love our people and
we love people coming here legally most Americans support the key elements of sensible immigration reform including a stronger border and providing undocumented immigrants with a path to citizenship but as long as politics and emotion continue to Eclipse reason bipartisanship sadly will remain a thing of the [Music] past it's not it's not
