it has been the majority opinion

I doubt a majority opinion across the world has ever been 'zero foreigners whatsoever'. But even if we stretch and assume it once was, the majority will always be against immigration because the majority are the poor and immigration almost always negatively effects the poor.

...But at basically nopoint in history was 'zero immigration' ever mainstream position adopted by rulers of lands. Those on top did not discover the benefits of allowing foreigners in yesterday. They have been doing it for longer than the written word has existed.