Any conversation about the politics of American immigration usually includes the narrative of America being a “country of immigrants.” If immigration is so central to American history, why are deportation and the wall such important parts of Donald Trump’s quest to “Make America Great Again?” The answer, of course, is that America’s immigration tradition is more complicated and nuanced than simply being a nation of immigrants.
Early American immigration, in the years before 1900, consisted of mostly white Northern Europeans and often excluded or oppressed non-white groups. Much of this immigration resulted in the genocide of native peoples, a dark side to the notion of America as a “nation of immigrants.” Sub-Saharan Africans were kidnapped from their homes and brought to America as part of the slave trade. During this time, the U.S. government also enforced restrictions such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the “Gentleman’s Agreement” with Japan, forcibly limiting immigration from areas ethnically different from the white, Protestant power holders.
By the early 1900s, the source of most immigration had shifted from northern Europe to largely Catholic and Jewish southeastern Europe, eliciting a strong white nationalist reaction to cut off immigration and preserve “traditional” American culture based on Protestant northern European traditions. From the perspective of our modern conception of whiteness this may seem absurd, but distinctions between Americans and Protestant northern European roots, and Catholic or Jewish European roots, were clear lines of division at the time.
In the 1920s, white rural America reinforced its power through a white nationalist revival similar to “Make America Great Again” rhetoric. This revival included bringing back the Ku Klux Klan from the days of Reconstruction, starting several murderous one-sided race riots against African-Americans, and inducing a general hysteria over foreign radicals. This movement drove a law through Congress in 1924 that allotted immigration quotas as percentages of national origin based on the 1890 census, effectively limiting immigration to ethnic groups that historically had large bases in America.
20th century limits on immigration, combined with the national crises of the Great Depression and World War II that forced reliance on a single federal government instead of on ethnic organizations, created a white-dominant monoculture in America. Such a conception of immigration also resulted in the forced deportation of Mexican immigrants during the Great Depression and post-war era, and the rejection of Jewish refugees during World War II. This white monoculture of 1924-1965 is what Trump refers to when he promises to “Make America Great Again.”
The white establishment was disrupted in 1965 when Congress opened the immigration gates once more by ending national origin quotas. The trend of increasing immigration continued through party changes as Ronald Reagan granted amnesty to 3 million undocumented immigrants in 1986 and George H.W. Bush increased immigration again in 1990. These events allowed non-European immigration to flourish, especially from Latin America and East Asia, changing the ethnic makeup of America and sparking a white nationalist reaction from the conservative sectors of American society.
When Donald Trump promises to “Make America Great Again,” he promises to bring America back to its racist past of a white monoculture. He promises white nationalist revivals like those of the 1920s and those that he inspired with his campaign and election. Numerous studies have shown that claims of immigrants being detrimental to the economy or a threat to public safety are purely false. Immigrants, including and especially Dreamers, have proven that they contribute greatly to the economy and commit crimes at a lower rate than documented Americans. The notion of negative economic impacts and increased crime are false justifications for the emotional desire to reinstate white cultural supremacy in America.
The issue of immigration is central to “Making America Great Again” because non-European immigration did not substantially exist in conservatives’ ideal era of white monoculture. Immigrants directly threaten the establishment of a new white supremacy. This explains the importance of building a wall to Trump’s campaign and administration, and why his supporters so often chant for it. Due to changes in immigration policy, they feel the loss of absolute power from their white monoculture and view the solution to that loss of absolute power as a menacing, powerful wall to keep out those who aren’t white.
“Making America Great Again” not only includes building a wall to keep immigrants out, but also involves removing undocumented immigrants who threaten the white monoculture. Trump is not alone in this endeavor; Fox News hosts such as Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson have stirred up their conservative base by falsely portraying undocumented immigrants as criminals for years. The unfounded hysteria over undocumented immigrants is quite similar to the hysteria of the Red Scare in the 1920s, with fears of radicalized foreigners leading to white nationalism and unfair trials for Sacco and Vanzetti. This fear of the “enemy within” has most recently manifested in the pardoning of Joe Arpaio, a man convicted of racial profiling, and attempts to end DACA, two acts with clear white nationalist motivations.
White America has a spotty past regarding immigration—it began with genocide, later offered new hope to many around the world, and yet often excluded groups not already part of the white establishment. Our current immigration era is by far our most inclusive, and we must reject any calls for returning to a racist past; instead, we must open pathways to citizenship and legal immigration for all Americans who dare to dream. An end to DACA could mean forced relocation for hundreds of thousands of Americans; the loss of these outstanding community members, viewed as a threat by white nationalists, is why DACA must be preserved.
Ethan Ready is a Trinity sophomore. His column runs on alternate Tuesdays.
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Ethan Ready is a Trinity sophomore. His column runs on alternate Tuesdays.