The Politics of Immigration: A Complicated History

Immigration policy in the United States has always been complicated, controversial, and politically charged. As we look at the current debates around immigration, it can help to understand some of the history and how we got to where we are today.

In the early days of America, there weren’t really any limits on immigration. The country was new and largely unpopulated, so new settlers were welcomed. Things started to change in the late 1800s, tho, when the first federal immigration laws were passed. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 banned most Chinese immigrants from entering the U.S. This set a precedent for targeting specific nationalities and ethnicities, which unfortunately continued for decades.

Over time, quotas and bans focused on different groups—like Southern Europeans, Eastern Europeans, Jews, and more—were enacted. The 1920s saw the creation of Border Patrol and the first numerical caps on the number of immigrants allowed entry. The quotas favored immigrants from Western Europe and made it much harder for people from places like Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East to come here.

So America’s immigration system has racist roots, there’s no doubt about that. It was designed to keep certain people out based on ignorant, xenophobic ideas about race and ethnicity. That legacy still impacts our policies today, even if the laws themselves have changed.

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 was an attempt to make things more fair. It got rid of the old quota system based on national origin and created a new system focused more on reuniting immigrant families and attracting skilled labor to the U.S. This changed the demographics of immigration, leading to many more people coming from Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

Of course, there was still plenty of racism and xenophobia alive and well in America then as now. So immigration policy continued to be a political hot potato in the following decades.

Think things like: Ronald Reagan’s Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986, which tried to address the growing population of undocumented immigrants by creating a pathway to legal status for some while also increasing border security and penalties on employers who hire undocumented workers. Bill Clinton’s Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act in 1996, which expanded the categories of immigrants eligible for deportation and made it harder for undocumented immigrants to gain legal status. George W. Bush’s attempts at comprehensive immigration reform in the mid-2000s, which would have provided a path to legalization for many undocumented immigrants. This failed due to opposition in Congress.

The failure of Bush’s reform efforts kicked the can down the road to the Obama administration. Obama also ran into congressional roadblocks when trying to pass comprehensive immigration reform. But his administration did make moves like creating the DACA program to protect undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

Of course, Donald Trump made immigration policy and border security central issues of his 2016 campaign. This included promises to build a wall, impose a total ban on Muslims entering the U.S., and establish a “deportation force” to remove undocumented immigrants. As president, Trump didn’t succeed with the Muslim ban or mass deportation force. But he did restrict travel from certain Muslim-majority countries, stepped up immigration enforcement raids, tried ending DACA, and declared a national emergency to divert funding for his border wall. His rhetoric and policies aimed to portray immigrants – especially illegal immigrants–as criminals, security threats, and drains on the economy.

The Biden administration has tried dialing back some of Trump’s harshest measures. For example, Biden preserved DACA, stopped wall construction, and raised the refugee admissions cap. But he’s also kept some controversial Trump-era policies like the “Remain in Mexico” program for asylum seekers. And he continues getting criticism from all sides –from immigrant advocates calling him the “deporter-in-chief” to Republicans accusing him of having “open border” policies.

As we can see, immigration politics have always been complicated with policies swinging back and forth between more open and more restrictive approaches. Underlying it all are fundamentally different beliefs about what immigration means for America’s economy, security, diversity, values, and identity as a nation. With Congress gridlocked for years unable to pass major immigration reforms, presidents have relied more and more on executive orders and regulations which then just get overturned by the next administration. So there’s been a lack of consistency and stability around immigration policy. Meanwhile, the unauthorized immigrant population has continued growing to around 11 million people today. And the issues around immigration remain highly divisive in American politics and society.

What does the future hold? As with many political issues, there are good-faith arguments on multiple sides. Immigration advocates argue for creating pathways to citizenship, protecting DACA recipients, respecting asylum-seekers’ rights, and seeing immigration as an economic benefit. Anti-immigration voices argue for restricting legal immigration further, ramping up border security, aggressively deporting undocumented immigrants, and preserving jobs for U.S. citizens.

There have been efforts at passing comprehensive bipartisan reform in Congress but they continually get stalled by disagreements over questions like: Should there be a pathway to citizenship for any of the existing undocumented immigrants, and if so, under what conditions? Should legal immigration be expanded or reduced – and if so, by how much? How much should be invested in border security? Should policies aim to admit more high-skilled or family-based immigrants?

The politics remain thorny with cross-pressures even within parties. For Democrats, labor unions worry about immigrant workers undercutting wages while business interests support more immigration. For Republicans, corporate interests want access to foreign workers while working-class voters worry about jobs and cultural change.

States and cities have also gotten involved with “sanctuary” policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement or temporary protected status for undocumented immigrants. But some states have gone the opposite direction with aggressive anti-illegal immigrant laws.

There are also international factors to consider around refugee crises, asylum laws, temporary worker programs with neighboring countries, and more. So immigration policy involves an intricate web of political, social, cultural, security, human rights, and economic considerations. There are good arguments on multiple sides. And there are also clearly bad arguments grounded in racism, xenophobia, misinformation, or willful ignorance.

Navigating all this is extremely challenging. It’s easy for politicians to score political points by scapegoating immigrants without really solving problems. But there are also politicians genuinely grappling with this issue and trying to balance competing interests. Most experts seem to think America needs a comprehensive approach including:

• A pathway to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants, particularly DACA recipients and other sympathetic groups like asylum seekers, victims of crime or trafficking, etc.
• Reforms to the legal immigration system to better respond to labor market needs and keep families together. This could mean slightly expanding or restricting various visa categories.
• Smart enforcement policies that target serious criminals not general undocumented immigrant populations. This means focusing resources on apprehending immigrants who actually pose safety or security threats.
• Pragmatic border security measures balancing security, trade, tourism, and humanitarian concerns–not political theatrics around walls.
• Aid, trade, and diplomacy with immigrant-sending countries to improve conditions and opportunities there long-term.

But reasonable people can still disagree over the details. And ugly political rhetoric around immigration will probably continue, especially as America grows more diverse. Still, our history is one of assimilating wave after wave of immigrants. Hopefully that spirit of inclusion and opportunity endures even through these polarized times and policy whiplash.

What do you think – where should we go from here on immigration?