The History of Immigration
When we discuss modern immigration policy, we often ignore or omit its history. Let’s look back, examine the past, and see if we can better understand the present.
Any true discussion on the history of U.S. immigration must start with slavery. The United States’ first policy was to enshrine forced migration into the United States in our Constitution. Article I prohibited Congress from banning the “migration or importation of [slaves]” until 1808. This practice built massive fortunes throughout our nation’s first 100 years, but all built on the backs of human beings.
Despite our actively importing slaves during the country’s first century, the United States still exhibited xenophobia. In the 1840s, a massive wave of anti-Irish sentiment hit the northern United States, as shown in the simple words “Irish need not apply” on the windows of small businesses. This sentiment lasted about thirty years, until we found a new group of people to blame for our domestic woes.
After a bloody and divisive civil war, we finally passed the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865 and freed all slaves in the United States of America. But while we may have freed all enslaved persons in the United States, we still needed access to cheap, easily exploitable labor, and we found it in both the Chinese and the Irish.
In 1862, Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act, authorizing the western segment of the Transcontinental Railroad, and we needed laborers to complete the line. Since slavery was no longer an option, the Central Pacific Railroad turned to Chinese labor to build its 690-mile line; the Union Pacific used former Union soldiers and Irish immigrants to build its 1,087-mile line. These laborers faced extreme working conditions, and on the Pacific line alone, more than 1,000 Chinese laborers died in the name of American progress.
Despite their enormous contributions to our country, we did not repay our imported Chinese laborers well in the years following the completion of the railroad. In 1875, Congress passed the Page Act and banned the entry of Chinese women to the United States, but not men, since we still needed labor. In 1882, we went even further and passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, banning the Immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years.
You see, we needed Chinese labor to build the infrastructure for American progress and to connect our eastern and western economies, but were quick to discard them when that was complete. But, alas, this would not end our exploitation of others in our quest to be the most profitable nation in the world.
In 1892, we opened Ellis Island, and our immigration policy was simple: sign the book, enter. Perhaps that is oversimplified, but the point remains that we did not have quotas or visa requirements, though ironically, we did require proof of vaccinations. Over time, we would begin to pass stricter and harsher laws regarding immigration and immigrants, but for a 50-year stretch, it was quite liberal.
During this time, U.S. immigration policy drove massive economic growth and rapid industrialization. According to the Library of Congress, “While large-scale immigration created many social tensions, it also produced a new vitality in the cities and states in which the immigrants settled. The newcomers helped transform American society and culture, demonstrating that diversity, as well as unity, is a source of natural strength.” Unfortunately, these economic gains would prove insufficient to block the xenophobia in this nation.
In 1942, Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which ordered every Japanese American into internment camps. The Supreme Court would ultimately review this order, uphold it, and the precedent it set continues to be “good law” in the United States. The Korematsu ruling is a national tragedy, and Executive Order 9066 should never have been issued, enforced, nor upheld.
In the wake of World War II, Ellis Island officially closed in 1954 as a result of, among other factors, the passing of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. This Act was the birth of our modern immigration system, establishing quota systems for immigration to the United States, formally ending the Asian exclusion, and designing a system of immigration revolving around skills and value to the United States. In short, a system of selective immigration.
We now have a system that values people only for their economic contributions and value to the United States, a system which contributes to global brain drain, and a system that does not adequately invest in developing domestic talent. We regularly import doctors, physicists, academics, and other scientists, but impose much stricter requirements and generally exclude laborers and others simply seeking a better life. We use arbitrary caps to restrict the total number of immigrants admitted into the United States each year, artificially slowing economic growth, discarding a solution to the Social Security problem, and ignoring their contributions while vilifying their presence.
Our system may have modernized, but it has not changed. We still have a system that actively exploits laborers and hard workers, penalizes and punishes immigrants to the United States, and allows U.S. companies to avoid fines and criminal sanctions for their illegal hiring of undocumented persons.
In the 1952 legislation—The Immigration and Nationality Act—it was a crime to “conceal, harbor, or shield” undocumented immigrants. That same legislation specifically carved out “employment” as not harboring an undocumented immigrant. This opened the door for employers to begin exploiting immigrants in the United States and avoid early criminal prosecutions for doing so. This type of policy pushed the onus of immigration onto the immigrant and off their employers, a practice and policy which continue to this day. Data show that the number of filed harboring cases has dropped under the current Administration.
To oversee this new, complicated system of immigration, Congress created Immigration and Naturalization Services in 1952, and INS was replaced by both Customs and Border Patrol—CBP—and Immigration and Customs Enforcement—ICE—in 2003. Both fall under the Department of Homeland Security.
I am writing this, in many ways, because of ICE. Because of the harm this agency has done to the American people and the immigrant community. Immigrants make America great. I will say it again: immigrants make America great. I wholeheartedly endorse that statement, and I believe we should create a system that processes citizenship, residency, and visa applicants rapidly, dispassionately, and efficiently. I believe that we need a more open, more tolerant, and more diverse United States.
My beliefs are falling on deaf ears. In the desire to be as cruel and as harsh as possible, since Donald Trump took office, there have been 43 ICE-involved shootings, leading to 11 deaths. At least 61 people have died in ICE custody. Just recently, officers fired into a vehicle in which there was a five-year-old child. I have a seven-year-old at home, and I find that absolutely deplorable. Because of its harm to America’s communities, ABOLISH ICE!
What we are experiencing today is the result of a $75 billion appropriation to ICE, not to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which would have gone a long way toward solving the immigration situation. I believe applicants should receive an answer on citizenship or residency within 18 months of applying. I believe that our immigration policy should be cruelty-free: no separating families, no deportations to a country of origin, and no for-profit prisons or detention facilities.
My good friends, I understand the system we have built, but I also disagree with it. You must first know your enemy before you can effectively engage with them, so I made it a point to understand our immigration system so I can advocate for a country and system that celebrate diversity. So that I can fight for my boys’ birthright citizenship.
I decided to run for Congress because this is personal to me. What you may not know is that my wife and I have five boys, and three of my oldest are my step-sons. Prior to this race, that was never relevant, but on his first day in office, Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that threatened the birthright citizenship of millions of Americans, including my boys. I am honored to be the Democratic Nominee for Oklahoma’s Fourth Congressional District. I hope we can keep discussing difficult truths and having real conversations in this country. It is necessary for a healthy democracy.
