Shining City on a Hill
Reagan on Immigration
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Donald Trump, who says he wants to Make America Great, is no Ronald Reagan when it comes to the issue that is driving Trump's campaign, namely, immigration. A new ad that will air all week on cable news networks makes the point effectively. The image of America as "the shining city on a hill" is one of the most memorable phrases from the Reagan years. As the president said in his farewell address to the nation, however, "if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and heart to get here." But Trump and all too many of his followers want to slam those doors shut, not just to illegal immigrants but to all immigrants.
Trump's immigration plan would halt the issuing of new permanent resident permits and force employers to hire from the pool of unemployed Americans as well as changing the rules on high tech visas so that employers will have to pay above the existing "prevailing wages." His only solution to illegal immigration is to build a higher wall and deport 11.3 million illegal immigrants already here, along with their estimated 4 million U.S. citizen children. He says he can do it in 18-24 months—not without raids on homes, workplaces and schools that would trample civil liberties and permanently stain America's reputation not to mention destroying lives.
American Action Forum released a study earlier this year that shows the cost of such a plan. It would reduce GDP by some $1.6 trillion and cost $400-600 million to implement.
Reagan understood the importance of a welcoming policy for newcomers. As he said in a 1988 speech: “America represents something universal in the human spirit. I received a letter not long ago from a man who said, ‘You can go to Japan to live, but you cannot become Japanese. You can go to France to live and not become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Turkey, and you won’t become a German or a Turk.’ But then he added, ‘Anybody from any corner of the world can come to America to live and become an American.’” We seem to have lost that optimistic spirit, and not because new immigrants are any different from those in the past. It would be shame for Donald Trump to redefine what makes America great.
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Read a response by Brian M. Fish: "Trump v. Reagan: A Fight Not Worth Having."
Former Attorney General, State of Arizona
Mark Brnovich served as Arizona's 26th Attorney General from 2015 to 2023. He was first inaugurated in 2015, and again in 2019 after winning re-election. Mark has spent most of his professional life serving as a prosecutor at the local, state, and federal levels. Mark met his wife Susan while they both worked as prosecutors for the Maricopa County Attorney's office. Mark worked in the Gang/Repeat Offender Unit and prosecuted many difficult and high profile cases from 1992 to 1998. He then went on to work as an Assistant Attorney General with the Arizona Attorney General's Office from 1998 to 2003, where he developed an expertise in gambling law. Brnovich later went on to serve as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Arizona where he prosecuted public integrity crimes, as well as crimes occurring in Indian Country.
Brnovich has also been a Judge Pro Tem of Maricopa County Superior Court, a Command Staff Judge Advocate in the U.S. Army National Guard, the Director for Constitutional Government at the Goldwater Institute, and the Director of the Arizona Department of Gaming, a law enforcement agency that investigates illegal gambling activity, as well as working with tribal regulators to ensure the integrity of tribal gaming.
Brnovich is known for restoring public confidence in the office of "Arizona's Top Cop" and for assembling some of the nation's most talented public servants for his administration. Mark argued at the United States Supreme Court in defense of the "one-person, one-vote" principle, was featured on 60 Minutes in defense of capital punishment, and has initiated national public education efforts to combat human sex trafficking.
Brnovich has been recognized by the National Federation of Independent Business as a "Champion of Small Business." and was elected by his bi-partisan colleagues to serve as the Chairman of the Conference of Western Attorneys General.
Mark's wife Susan was recently appointed by the United States Senate to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the District of Arizona. He has two teenage daughters and lives in Phoenix.
Chairman, Center for Equal Opportunity
Linda Chavez is Chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity. She has published opinions and columns in newspapers across the country and appears regularly on cable news. Chavez is the author of the three books: Out of the Barrio: Toward a New Politics of Hispanic Assimilation, An Unlikely Conservative: The Transformation of an Ex-Liberal, and Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics. She has been honored by the Library of Congress as a "Living Legend" and as nominee for Secretary of Labor by President George W. Bush.
Chavez has held many appointed positions and has served on numerous corporate and nonprofit boards. Among her appointed positions has been Chairman, National Commission on Migrant Education (1988-1992); White House Director of Public Liaison (1985); Staff Director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1983-1985); and member of the Administrative Conference of the United States (1984-1986). Chavez was also the Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Maryland in 1986 and was elected by the United Nations' Human Rights Commission to serve a four-year term as U.S. Expert to the U.N. Sub-commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.
Chavez earned her BA from the University of Colorado.