Thomas R. Eddlem: Conservatives deceived me on immigration

  I grew up in the conservative movement at the end of the Cold War, but eventually realized I had been misled on the issue of immigration. When I finally took the trouble to research the issue after receiving a private offer to write a series of anti-immigration tracts (a contract which I declined), I found that most proponents of smaller government throughout American history had opposed immigration controls. This included especially the great classical liberal congressman William “Bourke” Cockran, who was himself an immigrant who spoke out eloquently against the Emergency Quota Act of 1921.