Ep 8: Immigration Crisis: How We Got Here - Part 2

Discover the hidden history behind America’s immigration system. In this episode, I explore the gap between the nation’s ideals and its exclusionary laws, tracing how race and power shaped who could become American. From the first “white only” citizenship rules and the Chinese Exclusion Act to the era of quotas, amnesty, and the harsh crackdowns of the 1990s, you’ll learn how each wave of reform left lasting marks on our society. If you want to understand today’s debates—and why they echo so many battles of the past—then take a listen. Join me for a revealing journey through the long arc of American immigration

Transcript

Raheel Khan: 0:00

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. We all know those iconic words located inside the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, the statue itself, and later these words were meant to conjure an image of America as a beacon of hope open to all but. Here's a powerful truth. Many people don't realize when these words were first written, the United States had just passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. This wasn't some minor regulation. It was one of our first major federal immigration laws, and it didn't welcome the tired or the poor, at least not all of them. It actually banned an entire race of people from entering the country. From the earliest days, America's immigration story has been defined by a deep and painful gap, a wide chasm between who we say we are and how we actually act. Welcome back to Connecting the Dots. Let's continue our journey into America's immigration story. Today's focus. The long arc of American immigration and how we got to where we are now. In the last episode, we explored why immigration is such a politically explosive topic in America today. This time we're going back way back to understand the foundations, how America built the complex, often contradictory system we are forced to navigate through. Because the story of immigration in the US isn't just about who we've let in crucially, it's about who we have kept out and why. For most of our nation's history, immigration policy wasn't colorblind. It was explicitly and often brutally designed to favor one group, white Europeans. And if you think the themes dominating today's immigration debates. The fear, the claims of invasion, the calls for exclusion are new. Think again as we'll. See, we have definitely been here before, so let's dig in. I to truly understand where we are, we have to start at the very beginning. America's first immigration law wasn't even about who could come here. It was about who could become a citizen. The Naturalization Act of 1790 explicitly granted citizenship only to free white persons. Let me say that again. Not free persons, but free white persons from the very outset, American citizenship. Was defined by race for that first century. If you could make it to American Shores, you could generally stay, but the path to truly becoming American, the right to own land, to vote, to build a future for your family, that was almost exclusively reserved for whites. This racial definition of citizenship was tragically cemented in 1857 with the Supreme Court's infamous Dred Scott decision. The court ruled that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, could never be citizens. They were declared beings of an inferior order. With no rights, which the white man was bound to respect. This wasn't just about the legality of slavery. It meant free black Americans whose families had been here for generations were permanently locked out of citizenship. It was a moral and legal catastrophe that undeniably helped push the country towards civil war. But then came a revolutionary turning point after the Civil War, the 14th Amendment. In 1868, it declared for the first time, all persons born are naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States this was a direct powerful repudiation of Jed Scott guaranteeing birthright citizenship regardless of race. Or parental status. Unfortunately, this wasn't the end of discrimination in our country. Far from it, even white immigrants had and continued to experience discrimination. Anglo-Saxon Protestants often saw themselves as the real Americans. When Irish Catholics fled famine in the 1840s, for example, they faced intense hostility. They were derisively called. A race that will never be infused into our own. Eastern and southern Europeans continue to face discrimination into the 19 hundreds, but here's the crucial difference. Their whiteness, despite the prejudice, still offered them a path to eventual acceptance privileges that were significantly harder to achieve for non-white groups. The Chinese who were instrumental in the construction of the US Rail Network were the first group to face complete federal exclusion. The Chinese exclusion Act of 1882 didn't just limit Chinese immigration. It banded entirely and prevented Chinese people already living here from becoming citizens. It was only supposed to last 10 years. What was extended and then made permanent in 1902. Finally being repealed in 1943. This marked a dark milestone. It was the first federal law in US history to exclude people based solely on race. Interestingly, even with this exclusionary act in place, the Supreme Court in 1898. In the United States versus Juan Kim Ark ruled that birthright citizenship did apply to everyone born on US soil, including the children of Chinese immigrants whose parents weren't citizens. This monumental decision preserved the 14th Amendment's Promise subsequent court cases upheld this law. Which makes Trump's recent executive order attempting to abolish birthright citizenship so controversial. It's enshrined in the Constitution and upheld by the Supreme Court, something as simple executive order cannot eliminate. As we moved into the early 19 hundreds, federal policy became increasingly sophisticated in its exclusion. First, there was the 1907 gentleman's agreement with Japan, which informally but effectively restricted the influx of Japanese laborers. Then came the 1917 Immigration Act, which created the sweeping Asiatic Bard zone, effectively excluding immigrants from most of Asia and the Pacific Islands. But the true codification of white supremacy into American law happened in the 1920s. The National Origins Act of 1924 established a quota system that massively favored northern and Western Europeans. This same law virtually banned Asians and Africans and severely limited immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe. Just listen to these numbers. The United Kingdom was allotted over 65,000 immigrants per year, starting in 1930 in Germany, 25,000. Poland and Italy got around 6,000 each and Spain only 250. Meanwhile, the entire continent of Asia was allowed at 1300 in Africa, around 1200. This wasn't an accident. Congress had previously commissioned studies that helped them determine the desirable racial composition of America, the House Committee on Immigration. Openly stated, the goal of the law was to preserve the basic strain of our population. These discriminatory policies weren't confined to federal law. State laws reinforced them. In California, for example, the 1913 Alien Land Act barred Asian immigrants from the owning or long-term leasing more than three years of agricultural land. The laws specifically labeled them as aliens, ineligible for citizenship. This law became even more restrictive over the years and became the template for similar acts in multiple other states. Meanwhile, Europeans continue to freely own land and build generational wealth. These restrictive quota systems remained in place for an astonishing 40 years. It persisted through the Great Depression World War ii. And well into the civil rights era, and it worked exactly as intended. Immigration from non-white countries slowed and America continued to become more white and more Protestant. Yet even within this rigid system, there were exceptions, often driven by America's economic needs. During World War ii, for instance, the Bracero program brought millions of Mexican laborers to American farms and railroads. This guest worker program continued until 1964, a clear demonstration of how economic demands could sometimes override the powerful impulse for exclusion, but only temporarily and selectively. By the 1960s, America's explicitly racial immigration system was becoming increasingly indefensible on the global stage. How could the US fighting the Cold War ostensibly for freedom and democracy, continue to uphold draconian immigration laws at home? It was a glaring, undeniable contradiction. The groundwork for change had been laid in 1952 with the Immigration and Nationality Act, also known as the McCarran Walter Act, which consolidated various immigration laws, but maintained the discriminatory national Origins quota system. While it did end the complete exclusion of Asians and allowed them to become citizens, it still only allowed about 100 persons per Asian country into the us. So in 1965, in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, Congress passed major amendments to that 1952 law. These Heart Seller Act amendments. Finally abolished the National Origins formula that had shaped American demographics for decades. The 1965 Amendments replaced racial quotas with a new system based primarily on family reunification and needed skills, while also allowing for a small number of refugees. Countries from the Eastern hemisphere received the same annual cap of 20,000 immigrants annually, each with a maximum of 170,000 annually combined. While for the first time all the Western hemisphere nations faced a numerical limit, a combined cap of 120,000 annually with no individual country maximums. But here's the thing. Even this law, which was Bill as being colorblind. Wasn't entirely so family reunification, inherently favored groups that already had established communities in the US, which at the time were mostly white Europeans. In order to get the bill passed, some lawmakers like Senator Ted Kennedy had to assure their colleagues that our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually, and the ethnic mix of this country will not be upset. Okay. They were thankfully profoundly wrong. The laws designed, enabled what came to be derogatory, known as chain migration where each new citizen could sponsor more relatives. Fundamentally shifting the demographics of the country by increasing Asian and Latin American population in ways no one had fully anticipated. What lawmakers thought would preserve America's existing ethnic makeup instead transformed it entirely. This is what Trump proposed to end back in his first term, calling for an end to chain migration and moving to a merit-based system. Fast forward to 1986, Congress passed what would be the last truly comprehensive immigration reform in American history, the Immigration Reform and Control Act. Often called the IRCA. This law had three main components. First, it granted amnesty and illegal pathway to permanent residency for almost 3 million undocumented immigrants already in the country. Second, it made it illegal for employers to knowingly hire undocumented workers. And third, it created penalties for doing so. The theory behind it was straight. Forward, legalize those already here, and then turn off the magnet for new undocumented immigration by punishing employers who hired them. But here's the reality, it didn't work. Employer sanctions were rarely, if ever enforced fake documents became incredibly common, and frankly, everyone just looked the other way. The law also largely ignored economic realities. American businesses still needed immigrant labor and people in Mexico and change America desperately needed jobs. What the 1986 law did do, however, was set the template for nearly every immigration debate that followed conservatives pushed for more enforcement while liberals sought legalization. And crucially, both sides consistently avoided creating robust. New legal pathways for future immigration. The consequence, the undocumented population in the US grew dramatically from 5 million in 1986 to over 12 million today. If 1986 was an attempt to solve I immigration, 1996 was when America took a sharp, punitive turn. The 1990s had seen increasingly restrictive laws building towards the illegal immigration reform and immigrant responsibility Act, a name that just rolls off the tongue. This law fundamentally changed how America treats immigrants. It was passed in a climate of intense fear. Following the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center and the 1996 Oklahoma City bombing, it dramatically expanded the list of crimes that could lead to deportation. Now, even misdemeanors and nonviolent defenses could be considered felonies, appallingly. This law could be applied retroactively, encompassing previous offenses. What does that mean? You got arrested for a fight in college or shoplifting, something worth more than$10. You could now be charged with a felony and deported. Sound familiar? Trump has taken a similar, although slightly different approach with foreign students. Instead of charging them for previous minor offenses, he's using those as grounds to revoke their student visas. The message is the same though. Immigrants, you make a mistake, even a minor one, and we'll kick you out. The 1996 law eliminated most forms of relief. That once prevented deportation mandated detention for many immigrants, and introduced expedited removal, allowing immediate deportation without a hearing for undocumented, IM immigrants caught within 90 miles of the southern border. The impact of these changes fell hardest and disproportionately on communities of color while European visa overstayers were rarely targeted. Enforcement efforts overwhelmingly focused on Latino and black immigrant communities. In essence, this law created the powerful sprawling detention and deportation machine. We know today, the 1990s also saw a significant shift in border policy. The militarization of the US Mexico border initiatives like Operation Gatekeeper in 1994 ramped up border patrol presence and built the first sections of the border wall. This dramatic increase in enforcement purposely shifted border crossings to more dangerous areas, hoping it would lead to deterrence. And paradoxically, it cemented the death of circular migration where workers would come and go with the seasons, changing it into permanent settlement because returning home became too risky. Then nine 11 happened and it changed everything. Immigration was immediately reframed. Not as an economic or labor issue, but as a paramount national security concern. The Department of Homeland Security was created and took over immigration enforcement establishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, or ICE as its dedicated arm. This fundamental shift solidified the idea that immigration was primarily about security and threats. Since then, immigration has largely been trapped in a cycle of increased enforcement and political gridlock framed almost exclusively through this security lens. Yet, despite this long history of barriers and punitive policies, here's something truly remarkable. Immigrants themselves have continued to fundamentally transform America for the better. Even with all the restrictions, hostility, and the constant challenges, the data is overwhelmingly clear. Immigrants have consistently benefited this country. Consider this first generation of immigrants typically start in lower paying jobs and often take on difficult labor. But their children, the second generation, often outperform both their parents and native born Americans. We see higher graduation rates, higher incomes, and a greater propensity for business startups among the second generation. By the third generation, economic integration is virtually complete regardless of their family's origin. The innovation numbers are. Impressive. About 40% of American Nobel Prize winners have been immigrants. They are twice as likely to start businesses, hold over a third of all US patents and contribute more in taxes than they consume in services. Think about it. We celebrate visionary innovators like Elon Musk, an immigrant. But too often overlook or outright ignore the contributions of millions of immigrants who help keep America the economic and scientific global superpower that it is. The truth is the credit immigrants receive and their path to acceptance has always depended on where they come from and what they look like. So. What's the main takeaway from this long, complex, and often painful history of American immigration? That despite how much we may want to believe, it's not a story of steady linear progress towards inclusion. Instead, it's a story defined by persistent racial hierarchy that we are still grappling with today. For almost 200 years, immigration law explicitly favored white Europeans and systematically excluded non-white groups. Even after the revolutionary changes of 1965, the systems underlying biases remain embedded in rules like family reunification and in the priorities of enforcement. Every single generation, it seems, has convinced itself that the current wave of immigrants is fundamentally different, more dangerous, less assimilable, and more threatening than previous waves. The pattern, at least for white immigrant groups, has always been the same initial hostility, followed by gradual acceptance and eventually full integration, but for groups deemed not white enough. The path was and profoundly remains far more difficult Today. We are undeniably living with the direct consequences of this history, the longstanding preference for white immigrants. The failure of the IRCA in 1986, the punitive system built in 1996, and the enforcement only mentality that sort of solidified after nine 11. All of this led to the seemingly unbreakable political gridlock. That blocks meaningful reform. Everything going on today and in every previous generation traces back to that single fundamental question that has always driven American immigration policy, who deserves to be American. Thank you for listening today. Join me next week for the third episode in this series. When I examine why immigration reform. Has failed so completely over the past 30 years from the Hopeful Gang of eight effort to the recent order Bill that claimed to have everything both parties wanted until politics ultimately killed it. If you found this episode helpful, please take a moment to like, subscribe and share it with a friend. Until next time, stay curious, stay critical, and stay connected.