After our recent discussion with Scott Greer on the politics of immigration reform, we look to the recent past with Losing Control: How a Left-Right Coalition Blocked Immigration Reform and Provoked the Backlash That Elected Trump , by Jerry Kammer. I must warn you—this book may make you tear your hair out. You can see the countless times when the immigration issue could have been essentially solved, but ethnic tribalism on the left and corporate greed on the right combined to make sure America’s national interests were put last. Still, it’s worth seeing how the predictions and happy talk of immigration enthusiasts were disproven by reality repeatedly.

Unfortunately, we’re now in a situation where even the pretense of rational discussion of the immigration issue is a thing of the past. Open borders has become something close to a theological injunction for progressives, while conservatives have been morally cowed. Of course, actual Americans are still angry about what’s been done to their country at the hands of an uncaring elite. It’s that breach of faith between rulers and ruled that led to the rise of 45—and as the 2024 presidential campaign gets underway, it’s an important reminder that we are still in the Age of Trump.

For VDARE.com readers, there is some triangulation by Kammer that you may find exasperating, including the casual smear of the website as “white nationalist.” He also writes that he wishes the Center for Immigration Studies didn’t associate with Jason Richwine, as this made it easier for the Southern Poverty Law Center to call CIS a “hate group.” This misses the point; if groups like CIS and others would stop conceding moral legitimacy in these debates, “hate group” designations or other complaints would have no meaning. Still, this aside, it doesn’t destroy the importance of the book or its continuing relevance.

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