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Protestors use the celebrated Hamilton lyric, “Immigrants: We Get the Job Done” to protest the first inauguration of President Donald Trump.

“The Premise of Our Founding”: Immigration and Popular Mythmaking

On the tension between celebratory rhetoric and restrictive policy surrounding immigration.
by Connie Thomas via The Panorama on February 24, 2025
Mottled photographs of immigrants set against the Statue of Liberty.

The American Dream 100 Years After the National Origins Act

How a clerk on Ellis Island at the dawn of the 20th century documented discrimination through photography, and what that tells us about today’s malaise.
by Yousef O. Bounab via New Lines on February 17, 2025
People holding signs for Trump and for deportation, in front of an American Flag.

How Immigration Became a Lightning Rod in American Politics

Anti-immigrant think tanks and advocacy groups operated on the margins until Trump became president. Now they have molded not only the GOP but also Democrats.
by Gaby del Valle via The Nation on September 25, 2024
graph of historic immigration data

How America Tried and Failed to Stay White

100 years ago the U.S. tried to limit immigration to White Europeans. Instead, diversity triumphed.
by Eduardo Porter, Youyou Zhou via Washington Post on May 15, 2024
Collage of photographs of U.S. Border Patrol.

The Racist Origins of America’s Broken Immigration System

How a little-known, century-old law perpetuated the odious notion that certain types of immigrants degrade our nation’s character.
by Felipe De La Hoz via The New Republic on May 1, 2024
Texas governor Greg Abbott at press conference
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Texas Is Trying to Upend Who Controls Immigration Policy

The federal government has long controlled immigration law—and for very good reason.
by Kevin Kenny via Made By History on April 5, 2024
Painting of a worried child and a despairing mother.

With Friends Like These

On early American attempts to kick out foreigners.
by Julia Rose Kraut via Lapham’s Quarterly on August 4, 2020

Another Time a President Used the “Emergency” Excuse to Restrict Immigration

It was 1921, and it changed the character of the United States for decades.
by Joshua Zeitz via Politico Magazine on April 22, 2020
Donald Trump seen through a window reflecting a fence.
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President Trump’s Immigration Suspension Has Nothing to Do With Coronavirus

Restrictionists have long sought to cut U.S. immigration — to zero.
by Carly Goodman via Made By History on April 22, 2020
John Tanton
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John Tanton Has Died. He Made America Less Open to Immigrants — and More Open to Trump.

The nativist activist helped make anti-immigrant politics mainstream.
by Carly Goodman via Made By History on July 18, 2019
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What We Get Wrong About the “Poor Huddled Masses”

We can’t fix our immigration policy without understanding its history.
by Christopher F. Petrella via Made By History on December 18, 2018

From Mooktie to Juan: The Eugenic Origins of the 'Defective Immigrant'

How eugenics shaped America's immigration policy.
by Aparna Nair via Nursing Clio on June 28, 2018

The Johnson-Reed Act of May 24, 1924

The worldview laid out in the 94-year old law is still the foundational principle of American immigration policy today.
by Justin Broubalow via We're History on May 24, 2018

Immigrants Welcome*

Trump’s Muslim ban was not just an abberation: US citizenship has long been predicated on whiteness as it was understood in 1790.
by Maytha Alhassan via Boston Review on February 6, 2018
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents enter an apartment complex in Dallas.
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Republicans Want to Use Immigration Policy to Make America Whiter. They’re Destined to Fail.

Policies meant to whiten America almost always backfire.
by Julia G. Young via Made By History on February 6, 2018

“This is Not Who We Are,” Critics Say About the Refugee Ban. But What if it is?

Fighting over immigration is central to the American story.
by Nicole Hemmer via Vox on February 9, 2017

Anne Frank and Her Family Were Also Denied Entry as Refugees to the U.S.

Historian Richard Breitman tracked the efforts of Anne Frank's family to seek refuge in the US while immigration rules and public attitudes towards immigrants were changing.
by Elahe Izadi via Washington Post on November 24, 2015
Lyndon B. Johnson signing the 1965 Immigration Act.

The Contradictory Legacy of the 1965 Immigration Act

A law designed to repair flaws in the fabric of American justice also created new ones.
by Erika Lee via What It Means to Be American on September 29, 2015
Woodrow Wilson.

Woodrow Wilson Vetoes Literacy Requirements for Immigrants

In this 1915 letter to Congress, President Wilson explains his decision to reject new immigration restrictions.
by Woodrow Wilson via The American Presidency Project on January 28, 1915
A hand made into a fist is camouflaged against the American flag.

The Dark Parallels Between 1920s America and Today’s Political Climate

The early 1920s in the US offers historical lessons on how current pessimism about the state of the country can manifest in dangerous, discriminatory ways.
by Alex Green via The Conversation on March 10, 2025
ICE officers knock on the door of a residence.

Trump Is Drawing on Cold War–Era Repressive Tactics

A previous, dark period of American history paired ethnic exclusion through mass deportations and ideological exclusion through political repression.
by David Bacon via Jacobin on January 29, 2025
Birthright citizenship form, with infant footprints stamped in black ink, on fire.

The Plot Against Birthright Citizenship

The incoming Trump administration wants to take away citizenship for the US-born children of undocumented immigrants. Here’s how.
by Isabela Dias via Mother Jones on November 26, 2024
A drawing of two parents and a child running at a border, their silhouettes being sliced by a chainlink fence.

The Crime of Human Movement

Two recent books about our immigration system reveal its long history of exploiting vulnerable individuals for financial gain.
by Coco Fusco via New York Review of Books on October 31, 2024
Letter from Wong Gin Fu to Wong Kim

Sadness of the Paper Son: The Travails of Asian Immigration to the U.S.

Despite the Chinese Exclusion Act, about 300,000 Chinese gained admission to the U.S. between 1882 and 1943. How did they do it?
by Ryan Reft via Tropics of Meta on October 3, 2024
Chinese immigrants and American immigration officers at Ellis Island.
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The Perils of Vilifying Chinese Migrants

As Chinese migrants arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border, politicians are reviving old anti-Chinese rhetoric that has done lasting harm.
by Meredith Oyen via Made By History on August 13, 2024
William Hanson with Brigadier General Jacob Walters and Texas Rangers in Longview in 1919.

The Banality of Border Evil

What a long-dead, cartoonishly corrupt Texas bureaucrat can tell us about the nature of immigration enforcement and the U.S.-Mexico divide.
by Gus Bova via The Texas Observer on July 23, 2024
Joseph Berkowitz and Rae Kushner, Jared Kushner's grandparents, in Budapest in 1945.

Jared Kushner’s Grandparents Relied on Aid and Shelter as Refugees, Documents Show

Kushner was a top official in a Trump administration that sharply restricted immigration and refugee admissions. His grandparents were Holocaust refugees.
by Andrew Silverstein via Retropolis on July 22, 2024
President Calvin Coolidge raising his hand behind a podium to be sworn into office.
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Behind America’s First Comprehensive Federal Immigration Law

Even as the primary targets of immigration restrictionism have shifted, the consequences for immigrants remain profoundly shaped by the system created in 1924.
by Devin E. Naar via Made By History on July 9, 2024
Mexican-American wife standing with her hand on the shoulder of her seated Punjabi husband.

The “Mexican-Hindus” of Rural California

Anti-Asian immigration restrictions led male Punjabi farm workers in California to marry Mexican and Mexican American women, creating new cultural bonds.
by Bruce LaBrack, Karen Leonard, H. M. A. Leow via JSTOR Daily on July 8, 2024
An aerial view of the International Bridge over the in Rio Grande, Laredo, Texas.
partner

The Image of Control

Following the careers of a family of especially corrupt border control officials.
by John Weber via HNN on June 11, 2024
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