Ready to take a reality check down memory lane when it comes to our nation’s immigration policies?

Soak in the following words, “There is something a little strange about saying, ‘Let’s bring in 500,000 more people,’ when we can’t take care of the one million out of work.”

That sounds like someone siding with President Trump to cap incoming immigrants, doesn’t it? Guess again.

Those were the words of former Gov. Jerry Brown. 

He spoke them in 1975 when another Republican by the name of Gerald Ford was in the White House.

Brown and other leaders at the time — Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware among others — did not want hundreds of thousands of refugees from Cambodia and Vietnam entering the United States.

People in the first Brown administration formed a commission for the purpose of possibly suing the federal government for opening the door to refugees.

Brown went as far as to try and block Air Force planes carrying refugees from landing at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield.

California’s leadership argued in 1975 that a large share of the state’s population that was foreign born, there were too many Californians unemployed, and the state’s welfare rolls were already overburdened.

Fast forward to today. 

There are 1.06 million Californians out of work. 

We have the most illegal migrants and those let into the U.S. while awaiting asylum hearings among all 50 states at 1.8 million according to the Pew Research Center.

And California has roughly 30 percent of the nation’s welfare recipients and around 12 percent of the population

So what has changed? Politics.

This is not a slam on Brown, Biden, and others for their current immigration views. It is, however, a slam on their piousness on the issue.

Brown and Biden circa 1975 were in alignment with Trump 2018.

Rest assured, that is not likely the case today.

And if immigrant policy is a pure political party issue, which it isn’t, you could make a case that the Democratic Party in 1975 was acting like the Republican Party today.

Such a broad brush is completely unfair. 

Yet political hacks of both the red and blue persuasions do that and paint with mega broad brushes. 

An example close to home is the hatchet job done on Congressional members with positions on immigration that are neither beast nor fowl. 

All of the San Joaquin Valley representatives in Congress, whether they are Republican of Democrat, are among them. 

There are being pragmatic.

In this age of scorched earth politics, reasonable middle ground positions are as endangered as the Delta smelt.  

The irony of California in Brown’s last term as governor suing the federal government for allowing more immigrants into the country is rich.

In fairness to the governor, he isn’t the only politician — Democrat or Republican — that say they are pure as fresh snow when it comes to their stance on immigration, when in truth they practice what might best be described as situational ethics.

This nation’s immigration policies and politics have always been messy although the last 45 years have been extremely dysfunctional.

Not that anyone can say with great certainty what Trump’s ultimate vision is for immigration policy beyond rounding up and deporting those that are here illegally.

Criminals that are illegally are at the top of his list.

But what about those further down the list?

During his first term and of late, his mixed signals on the Dreamers — undocumented youths that this nation has invested heavily in and have grown up as Americans that were brought to this country by their undocumented parents — may be perplexing, but his initial point wasn’t.

The Dreamers were not given citizenship by President Obama who issued an executive order to give them protection to a degree. Only Congress can make citizenship an option for them.

Trump’s first move on the Dreamers in 2018 pointed that out and gave Congress a deadline to act, which if didn’t. But while Republicans now control Congress when Obama acted out of frustration the Democrats were in control of Congress.

Nothing is gained by using rhetoric for flamethrowers against people by the political affiliations when it comes to Dreamers.

The only way for anything to happen is for a true bi-partisan or non-partisan effort to be launched.

That doesn’t mean suing in response to every Trump social media posting.

Nor does it mean blaming all immigrants carte blanche, legal or undocumented, for everything under the sun from high unemployment to crime.

What it means is being realistic, pragmatic, and not acting on political impulse.

For example, if you are going to argue the Dreamers are burdens on the taxpayers, stop and think for a second.

We spend roughly $10,000 a year, as an example, in California to educate a student per year in kindergarten through 12th grade. That’s $130,000 per student.  If there are 1 million Dreamers — the mid-range of the estimated number of undocumented immigrants that were brought into this country before their 16th birthday — do the math.

If all one million were educated in public schools for 13 years, the bill would come to $13 billion. A more reasonable number would put the tab at $5.2 billion on the assumption the average a typical Dreamer has been or was in public schools is four years. That assumes some arrived at age 15, aren’t in school yet, or enrolled as a kindergartner and are only primary are students at the moment.

That’s $5.2 billion in tax dollars we as a nation have invested in education alone of Dreamers.

Why would we want to kick them out when they have been educated to be productive citizens especially those that have secured post-secondary education?

Questions like those never get asked if all we do is scream at each other. 

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com