Former Republican governor of New Mexico and Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson has a vision for America fundamentally different from Donald Trump’s. Perhaps the most striking difference is on immigration. Johnson’s mantra of more visas and legalization lie in stark contrast to Trump’s call for less immigration, a huge wall, and a “deportation force.”
Johnson’s support for immigration is fully consistent with libertarian principles, of course. The tragedy is that people have forgotten it is also consistent with conservative principles.



America’s Pro-Immigration Traditions
American conservatives can find their pro-immigration roots in the American Founding. The Declaration of Independence complained that King George III “[H]as endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither.”
That dislike of immigration barriers carried over to the Constitutional Convention. As Antonin Scalia Law School professor Ilya Somin has pointed out, there is no enumerated power in the Constitution that grants Congress the power to regulate most immigration—it had to be invented by the Supreme Court a century later. Congress’ Naturalization Act of 1790 did not restrict immigration at all but did place a few conditions on naturalization: Two-year residence, good moral character, and a free white person. That last provision shamefully excluded indentured servants, slaves, and former slaves but, still, there were no restrictions on who could come here.