“When it comes to immigration (legal or illegal), I still take cues from that radical social-justice warrior Ronald Reagan. “(I)t makes one wonder about the illegal alien fuss,” the Gipper said in a 1977 radio address after a New England town restricted apple pickers to U.S. citizens and then couldn’t find enough people to do the work.
“One thing is certain in this hungry world; no regulation or law should be allowed if it results in crops rotting in the field for lack of harvesters,” he added. Reagan didn’t even shy away from the A-word. “I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and who have lived here even though sometime back they may have entered illegally,” Reagan said in his 1984 presidential debate.”