Ronald Reagan, 1989:
“I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That’s how I saw it, and see it still.”
Donald Trump, 2015:
“I will build a great wall — and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me — and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.”
George H.W. Bush, 1990:
“Our nation is the enduring dream of every immigrant who ever set foot on these shores, and the millions still struggling to be free. This nation, this idea called America, was and always will be a new world — our new world.”
Donald Trump, 2015:
“I do business with the Mexican people, but you have people coming through the border that are from all over. And they’re bad. They’re really bad. You have people coming in, and I’m not just saying Mexicans, I’m talking about people that are from all over that are killers and rapists and they’re coming into this country.”
George W. Bush, 2004:
“As a Texan, I have known many immigrant families, mainly from Mexico, and I’ve seen what they add to our country. They bring to America the values of faith in God, love of family, hard work, and self-reliance; the values that made us a great nation to begin with.”
Donald Trump, 2015:
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.
George W. Bush, 2006:
“The United States is not going to militarize the southern border. Mexico is our neighbor, and our friend.”
Donald Trump, 2016:
“[Former President of Mexico Vicente Fox], get your money ready because you’re going to pay for the wall.”
Ronald Reagan, 1984:
“I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and lived here, even though sometime back they may have entered illegally.”
Donald Trump, 2015:
“They have to go.”
George W. Bush, 2006:
“It is neither wise nor realistic to round up millions of people, many with deep roots in the United States, and send them across the border.”
Donald Trump, 2015:
“You’re going to have a deportation force, and you’re going to do it humanely. Don’t forget…that you have millions of people that are waiting in line to come into this country and they’re waiting to come in legally. And I always say the wall, we’re going to build the wall. It’s going to be a real deal. It’s going to be a real wall.”
Ronald Reagan, 1980:
“Rather than making them, of talking about putting up a fence, 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 then, while they’re working and earning here, they pay taxes here.”
Donald Trump, 2015:
“We must have strong borders and not let illegal immigrants enter the United States. As has been stated continuously in the press, people are pouring across our borders unabated. Public reports routinely state great amounts of crime are being committed by illegal immigrants.”
George H.W. Bush, 1980:
“I don’t want to see … six- and eight-year-old kids, being made, you know, one, totally uneducated, and being made to feel that they’re living outside the law. Let’s address ourselves to the fundamentals. These are good people, strong people. Part of my family is a Mexican.”
Donald Trump, 2015:
“Somebody’s doing the raping. The thing is women being raped, well, then who’s doing the raping?”
