tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/immigration-laws-37376/articlesimmigration laws – The Conversation2023-05-19T12:40:54Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2030872023-05-19T12:40:54Z2023-05-19T12:40:54ZWhen faith says to help migrants – and the law says don’t<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526613/original/file-20230516-30078-zx36zp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C3%2C1019%2C679&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Migrants are welcomed to a Methodist church in New Mexico after being released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/migrants-mostly-from-honduras-el-salvador-guatemala-and-news-photo/1153579677?adppopup=true">Joe Raedle/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many religious traditions preach <a href="https://theconversation.com/religion-and-refugees-are-deeply-entwined-in-the-us-105923">the need to care for strangers</a>. But what happens when caring for the stranger comes into conflict with government policy?</p>
<p>After Title 42 restrictions at the U.S. border <a href="https://theconversation.com/despite-the-end-of-title-42-restrictions-on-asylum-seekers-are-expected-to-continue-under-biden-administration-205343">ended on May 11, 2023</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/01/politics/border-policies-hearing-house-judiciary/index.html">debates about immigration</a> have <a href="https://newjerseyglobe.com/congress/menendez-pushes-new-immigration-plan-slaps-biden-administration-for-some-similarities-to-trump/">heated up again</a> – focused mostly on reform, border security or refugees’ needs.</p>
<p>But the treatment of immigrants is deeply intertwined with religious freedom as well. As <a href="https://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/religion/about-us/directory/laura-alexander.php">a scholar of religious ethics</a> who studies immigration, I am interested in recent cases that highlight growing tensions between immigration policies and religious groups’ commitments to pastoral and humanitarian care.</p>
<h2>Ministry at the border</h2>
<p>One high-profile example centers on Rev. Kaji Douša, senior pastor at Park Avenue Christian Church in New York City, who traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, in 2018 to provide pastoral care to asylum seekers.</p>
<p>Her work was <a href="https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/story/2023-03-22/pastor-dousa-suing-dhs">flagged by Customs and Border Protection</a> after a Honduran woman allegedly said that Douša told migrants that marrying each other would make it easier to receive legal papers in the U.S. As Douša later testified, she did perform religious ceremonies, but only for couples who were already in common-law marriages and without claiming to provide any legal status.</p>
<p>Douša’s name and photo were added to a Department of Homeland Security watch list that included lawyers, journalists and activists, and she was <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/pastor-sues-dhs-over-government-surveillance-program-targeting-migrant-advocates-story.html">detained and questioned</a> by CBP officers upon her return to the U.S. A CBP official also sent an email to Mexican authorities <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/03/28/dhs-cbp-border-surveillance-kaji-dousa/">asking them to ban Douša</a> from entering Mexico because she lacked proper documentation – which the official later acknowledged had no basis in fact.</p>
<p>Douša filed a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/03/28/dhs-cbp-border-surveillance-kaji-dousa/">lawsuit accusing DHS</a> of unjust surveillance and retaliation, and in March 2023 a federal judge ruled in her favor. Judge Todd Robinson agreed that DHS <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23728387-dousa-ruling">had violated Douša’s right to freedom of religious expression</a> by instructing Mexican authorities to detain her.</p>
<p>Both Douša and <a href="https://www.ucc.org/ucc-minister-wins-lawsuit-against-u-s-government-for-interference-harassment-in-border-ministry/">the United Church of Christ</a>, which ordained her, argued that her actions were based in her religious commitments. Douša <a href="https://religionnews.com/2019/07/25/coalition-of-850-religious-leaders-backs-lawsuit-against-dhs-surveillance-of-pastor/">previously stated</a>, “To reject a migrant is to cast away God’s angels, which I am unwilling to do.”</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526617/original/file-20230516-27-1wtagm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People sleep in the open air under blankets in a dry, dusty place." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526617/original/file-20230516-27-1wtagm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526617/original/file-20230516-27-1wtagm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526617/original/file-20230516-27-1wtagm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526617/original/file-20230516-27-1wtagm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526617/original/file-20230516-27-1wtagm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526617/original/file-20230516-27-1wtagm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526617/original/file-20230516-27-1wtagm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Immigrants gather at a makeshift camp near the border between the U.S. and Mexico on May 13, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/immigrants-gather-at-a-makeshift-camp-stranded-amongst-news-photo/1490419828?adppopup=true">Mario Tama/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Shifts in the legal landscape</h2>
<p>This is not the first time religious leaders or groups providing pastoral and humanitarian care to migrants have come under scrutiny.</p>
<p>One famous example is <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-central-american-migrants-take-shelter-in-churches-recalling-1980s-sanctuary-movement-120535">the Sanctuary Movement</a> of the 1980s, an informal network of up to 500 churches whose members <a href="https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295999135/sanctuary-and-asylum/">provided safe haven</a> to undocumented asylum seekers fleeing violence in Central America.</p>
<p>Several members of the movement <a href="https://apnews.com/article/46751c1cc895c81f858b3c9e2dd7df8a">were convicted</a> of conspiring to smuggle immigrants into the U.S. They appealed, arguing that their work was <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/amcrimlr27&div=19&id=&page=">inspired by their religious convictions</a> and that the government was violating their First Amendment rights. Yet their claims were largely unsuccessful.</p>
<p>Over the past few decades, however, religious freedom claims <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019853897">have often found more favor</a> in U.S. courts.</p>
<p>In part, this is because of <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/103rd-congress/house-bill/1308">the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act</a>, which has made it easier for people and institutions to claim religiously based exemptions from generally applicable laws. One of the best-known examples is the 2014 Supreme Court case Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, in which the court, citing the owners’ religious convictions, <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2013/13-354">exempted the national chain of crafts stores</a> from providing employee health insurance that included contraception coverage.</p>
<h2>Help on the ground</h2>
<p>This shift has opened new lines of defense for religious actors, including humanitarian groups.</p>
<p><a href="https://nomoredeaths.org/about-no-more-deaths/">No More Deaths</a> is a nonprofit associated with a Unitarian Universalist church in Tucson, Arizona. Members leave supplies along desert routes traveled by migrants, provide first aid and occasionally offer services such as temporary shelter to migrants who are suffering from exposure.</p>
<p>In 2018, volunteers were charged with <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/02/28/699010462/no-more-deaths-volunteers-face-possible-prison-time-for-aiding-migrants">littering, driving on protected lands</a> and, in one case, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/10/18/658255488/deep-in-the-desert-a-case-pits-immigration-crackdown-against-religious-freedom">harboring undocumented immigrants</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526607/original/file-20230516-19-7r6v65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A handful of people on foot drop off jugs of water beneath a shrub in the desert." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526607/original/file-20230516-19-7r6v65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526607/original/file-20230516-19-7r6v65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526607/original/file-20230516-19-7r6v65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526607/original/file-20230516-19-7r6v65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526607/original/file-20230516-19-7r6v65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526607/original/file-20230516-19-7r6v65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526607/original/file-20230516-19-7r6v65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A volunteer for No More Deaths delivers water along a trail used by undocumented immigrants in the desert near Ajo, Ariz., in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/volunteer-for-the-humanitarian-aid-organization-no-more-news-photo/1148883755?adppopup=true">John Moore/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Four volunteers <a href="https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2019/01/17/no-more-deaths-trial/">were initially convicted</a>, but <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/06/us/arizona-aid-volunteers-reverse-convictions-trnd/index.html">their charges were dismissed</a> after they argued that they were compelled by religious convictions and that the government had violated their freedom of religious expression. The appeals court judge <a href="https://religionnews.com/2020/02/04/federal-judge-accepts-religious-liberty-defense-of-immigrant-rights-activists/">cited the Religious Freedom Restoration Act</a> as well as the Hobby Lobby case in holding that the volunteers were protected under U.S. law.</p>
<p>A more recent dustup between a religious humanitarian organization and government officials occurred in December 2022. A group of Republicans in Congress sent <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/614607999/12-14-22-Letter-to-Catholic-Charities-on-Document-Preservation">a letter</a> to <a href="https://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/">Catholic Charities</a>, a humanitarian nonprofit affiliated with the church that <a href="https://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/press_release/ccusa-addresses-ministry-to-migrants-at-u-s-mexico-border/">provides food, shelter and bathing facilities</a> on both sides of the border.</p>
<p>In U.S. border cities, the organization also <a href="https://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/story/we-travel-by-faith-not-by-sight/">provides transportation from shelters to bus stops and money exchanges</a>. The representatives’ letter cited this work as a reason to suspect Catholic Charities of encouraging illegal border crossings and required staff to preserve records of their work.</p>
<p>The organization argued that the charges were “<a href="https://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/press_release/ccusa-addresses-ministry-to-migrants-at-u-s-mexico-border/">both fallacious and factually inaccurate</a>.” Caring for people in need, “including vulnerable people on the move,” leaders wrote, “is a part of the fabric of the global Catholic Church and is mandated by the gospel.”</p>
<p>Yet another sticking point between religious groups and immigration law has emerged in Florida in recent weeks. A <a href="https://apnews.com/article/florida-desantis-immigration-bill-74d3efde87fe376202ebda74bab123b8">bill</a> recently signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis <a href="https://www.pnj.com/story/news/politics/2023/05/02/florida-immigration-senate-bill-1718-passes-house-explainer-what-you-need-to-know/70175457007/">was modified</a> after <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2023/april/florida-immigration-bill-1718-church-transport-religious-fr.html">religious groups protested</a> against its proposed criminal penalties for knowingly transporting or concealing an undocumented immigrant. Religious leaders argued that this would <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/2023/04/17/florida-immigration-bill-churches-punish-charity-work-religion/">violate their religious freedom</a> by preventing them from providing rides to religious services or from finding aid for people in need.</p>
<h2>National vs. universal mandates</h2>
<p>It is not surprising that these conflicts keep happening, considering the U.S. government’s and religious organizations’ different motivations around migration.</p>
<p>One main driver for politicians is simply that many voters <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-2415.2011.01252.x">are nervous about newcomers</a>, especially if they have different cultural, religious or racial backgrounds. The nonprofit Public Religion Research Institute <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/challenges-in-moving-toward-a-more-inclusive-democracy-findings-from-the-2022-american-values-survey/">has found</a> that while 55% of Americans think immigrants strengthen American society, 40% believe a growing number of newcomers “threatens traditional American customs and values.” In the past few years, multiple Republican politicians <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2022-05-20/the-republican-embrace-of-the-great-replacement-theory">have even embraced</a> some version of the “great replacement” <a href="https://theconversation.com/replacement-theory-isnt-new-3-things-to-know-about-how-this-once-fringe-conspiracy-has-become-more-mainstream-183492">conspiracy theory</a>. Once limited to extremist and antisemitic groups, replacement theory alleges that immigrants are either replacing native-born American citizens or are intentionally being used to facilitate electoral and social change.</p>
<p><a href="https://politicalscience.yale.edu/people/seyla-benhabib">Political scientist Seyla Benhabib</a> has argued that <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/30044348">another reason some leaders focus on border policies</a> is that <a href="https://www.cfr.org/excerpt-sovereignty-wars">national sovereignty</a> has been weakened in a globalizing world. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/30044348">Multinational corporations</a>, for example, are sometimes influential enough to shape government policies, such as lobbying for <a href="https://virginialawreview.org/articles/a-third-party-beneficiary-theory-of-corporate-liability-for-labor-violations-in-international-supply-chains/">weaker labor laws</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/mar/22/top-oil-firms-spending-millions-lobbying-to-block-climate-change-policies-says-report">environmental protections</a>.</p>
<p>But whereas sovereignty and citizens are priorities for governments, many religious traditions teach adherents to care for people <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Religious_and_Ethical_Perspectives_on_Gl.html?id=VYrOAwAAQBAJ">regardless of what community they belong to</a>. Religious thinkers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/09539468221090401">do argue</a> over whether their traditions encourage greater attention to people in their own communities. Still, when it comes to people’s most basic survival needs, most emphasize that care should know no borders.</p>
<p>For the foreseeable future, these priorities will continue to clash – and some religious people may push back by claiming a First Amendment right to freedom of religious expression.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203087/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura E. Alexander receives funding as a Public Fellow of the Public Religion Research Institute.</span></em></p>As governments crack down at their borders, religious groups’ teachings to help the stranger remain unchanged.Laura E. Alexander, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Goldstein Family Community Chair in Human Rights, University of Nebraska OmahaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2005012023-02-23T20:13:17Z2023-02-23T20:13:17ZBiden’s border crackdown explained – a refugee law expert looks at the legality and impact of new asylum rule<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512026/original/file-20230223-26-ranwy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C134%2C6000%2C3853&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Seeking shelter and asylum on the US-Mexico border.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/USAsylumPayingForASponsor/3a0ca617af9d4b468b65c0db1880250e/photo?Query=US%20mexico%20border&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=12461&currentItemNo=8">AP Photo/Gregory Bull)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Anticipating a potential surge of migrants at the southern border, the Biden administration on Feb. 21, 2023, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/21/us/biden-asylum-rules.html">announced a crackdown</a> on those seeking asylum after unlawfully entering the U.S.</em></p>
<p><em>The proposed rule change – which would see the rapid deportation of anyone who had not first applied for asylum en route to the U.S. – has been <a href="https://www.aila.org/advo-media/press-releases/2023/aila-condemns-biden-administrations-push">condemned by immigration rights groups</a>, which claim it runs counter to the “humane immigration system” that Joe Biden <a href="https://joebiden.com/immigration/#">promised while campaigning</a> for the White House.</em></p>
<p><em>The Conversation asked Karen Musalo, <a href="https://cgrs.uchastings.edu/about/bio/karen-musalo#:%7E:text=Professor%20Karen%20Musalo%2C%20Bank%20of,at%20UC%20Law%20San%20Francisco.">an expert on refugee law</a> at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, to explain what the new rule entails, what its impact will be and why it is so controversial.</em></p>
<h2>What is the new policy?</h2>
<p>The Biden administration’s <a href="https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2023-03718.pdf">new rule</a> – which is set to come into force on May 11 – will bar from asylum all non-Mexican migrants who arrive at the southern U.S. border without having first sought and been denied asylum in at least one of the countries they passed through on their journey.</p>
<p>The only migrants exempted from this rule are those who use a U.S. government app, <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/about/mobile-apps-directory/cbpone">CBP One</a>, to make an appointment to apply for asylum at an official port of entry. All others will be subject to a presumption of ineligibility unless they can demonstrate “exceptionally compelling circumstances,” such as a medical emergency – which they will have to prove during a rapid <a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/primer-expedited-removal">screening process</a> in a border holding cell.</p>
<p>The policy – which immigrant rights <a href="https://justiceactioncenter.org/jac-condemns-bidens-plans-to-revive-trump-era-asylum-ban/">advocates</a>, <a href="https://www.menendez.senate.gov/newsroom/press/menendez-booker-lujan-padilla-joint-statement-on-biden-administrations-proposed-asylum-transit-ban-rule">congressional</a> <a href="https://www.menendez.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_to_president_biden_on_the_administrations_border_policies.pdf">leaders</a> and <a href="https://www.interfaithimmigration.org/2023/02/22/as-biden-moves-forward-with-asylum-ban-faith-groups-and-advocates-gathered-to-demand-restored-access-to-asylum/">faith groups</a> are calling an “asylum ban” or “transit ban” – is almost identical to one implemented by the Trump administration in 2019. The Trump-era rule was later <a href="https://www.aclu.org/cases/east-bay-v-barr">struck down</a> by the courts as unlawful.</p>
<h2>Why is the new rule being proposed now?</h2>
<p>The Biden administration is concerned that the expiration of a pandemic-era rule will lead to <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/03/17/biden-border-mexico-migrants-title-42">greater numbers of immigrants</a> at the southern border.</p>
<p>In March 2020, the Trump administration totally closed the border to asylum seekers in a <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/what-is-title-42-and-what-does-it-mean-for-immigration-at-the-southern-border">policy referred to as Title 42</a>. It justified the closure as necessary to protect public health during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, these health concerns were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2200274">just a pretext</a>; it has been <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/top-cdc-scientist-said-covid-era-health-policy-used-to-expel-migrants-unfairly-stigmatized-them/">well documented</a> that high-level officials in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-official-told-congress-migrant-expulsion-policy-not-needed-to-contain-covid/">were opposed</a> to the policy and acceded only under <a href="https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-pandemics-public-health-new-york-health-4ef0c6c5263815a26f8aa17f6ea490ae">intense White House pressure</a>.</p>
<p>Turning away all asylum seekers in this way was totally unprecedented, and <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/70192/the-trump-administrations-indefensible-legal-defense-of-its-asylum-ban/">inconsistent with</a> U.S. domestic and international legal obligations.</p>
<p>Biden <a href="https://joebiden.com/immigration/">campaigned on promises</a> to restore a humane asylum system. But on assuming the presidency <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/165439/biden-title-42-trump-migrant-expulsion-mexico">he continued</a> Title 42 and even <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/title-42-block-nicaraguans-cubans-haitians-rcna64418">expanded it</a> to include individuals from additional countries.</p>
<p>Immigration rights advocates <a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-united-states-covid-government-and-politics-32251064466f9ed6b51e55c1bbd18680">brought successful legal challenges</a> to terminate the policy, while attorneys general of Republican-led states <a href="https://litigationtracker.justiceactioncenter.org/cases/arizona-v-cdc-az-title-42-termination-district-court">sued to keep it in place</a>. Finally, in January 2023, the Biden administration <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/30/us/politics/biden-covid-public-health-emergency.html">announced</a> that on May 11 it would end the coronavirus health emergency, which had provided the legal authority for the border closure.</p>
<p>This means Title 42 also comes to an end on May 11. Unwilling to restore access to asylum as had existed for 40 years before former President Donald Trump’s border closure, the Biden administration proposed the new rule.</p>
<h2>Is the policy legal?</h2>
<p>In 2019, the Trump administration proposed a rule very similar to that put forth by Biden, prohibiting asylum for migrants who did not first apply in countries of transit. The <a href="https://casetext.com/case/covenant-v-trump-2">courts struck</a> <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/6981578/East-Bay-2020-07-06.pdf">down the policy</a> for violating the 1980 Refugee Act, which guarantees the right of all migrants who reach the United States to apply for asylum.</p>
<p>A bipartisan Congress passed the Refugee Act to bring the U.S. into compliance with its international obligations under the U.N.’s <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/1951-refugee-convention.html">1951 Refugee Convention</a> and its 1967 Protocol, which prohibit returning refugees to any country where their lives or freedom would be threatened.</p>
<p>In striking down the Trump-era rule, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/6981578/East-Bay-2020-07-06.pdf">pointed out</a> that the Refugee Act is very specific about the circumstances under which the government can deny asylum for failure to apply in a transit country. Under the act’s “safe third country” provision, that can happen only if the transit country is safe and has both a robust asylum system and a formal treaty with the United States agreeing to safe third-country status. The court found the Trump administration lacked all three conditions for imposing such a ban.</p>
<p>The Biden rule is somewhat different from Trump’s. It does not apply to individuals who schedule an asylum appointment at ports of entry through the CBP One app. </p>
<p>But this does not make the policy lawful. The Refugee Act expressly permits asylum seekers to access protection anywhere along the border – not just at ports of entry. And it does not require appointments to be made in advance.</p>
<p>In addition, CBP One has been plagued with <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech/u-s-border-protection-app-causes-tech-headaches-for-asylum-seekers/">significant technical</a> problems, preventing many from even making appointments, and has raised serious equity and <a href="https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-markey-calls-on-dhs-to-ditch-mobile-app-riddled-with-glitches-privacy-problems-for-asylum-seekers">privacy concerns</a>.</p>
<p>And more importantly, there is no getting around the fact that most countries of transit neither are safe for migrants nor have functioning asylum systems. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A girl holds her stuffed animal high above the water as migrants wade across a river." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512079/original/file-20230223-16-gzvo89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512079/original/file-20230223-16-gzvo89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512079/original/file-20230223-16-gzvo89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512079/original/file-20230223-16-gzvo89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512079/original/file-20230223-16-gzvo89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512079/original/file-20230223-16-gzvo89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512079/original/file-20230223-16-gzvo89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Migrants wade across the Rio Grande from Texas to Mexico to avoid deportation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ExodustoAmerica-AsylumBan/389eb605e83b414fb1a7ba7d554742b2/photo?Query=US%20deporting%20asylum&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=244&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo/Felix Marquez</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Asylum seekers arriving at the U.S. southern border pass through Mexico, which is <a href="https://humanrightsfirst.org/library/human-rights-stain-public-health-farce/">notoriously</a> <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/mexico/">dangerous</a> for migrants, and countries such as <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/nicaragua/">Nicaragua</a>, <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47083">El Salvador</a>, <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/guatemala/">Guatemala</a> and <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/honduras/">Honduras</a>, which are similarly unsafe and do not have <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/84977/bidens-embrace-of-trumps-transit-ban-violates-us-legal-and-moral-refugee-obligations/">anything approaching functioning asylum systems</a>.</p>
<p>Costa Rica, the one transit country in the region with an <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/country/costa-rica/freedom-world/2022">admirable human rights record</a> and an established asylum system, is currently receiving 10 times the number of asylum seekers as the United States on a per capita basis, and its system is <a href="https://reporting.unhcr.org/costarica#:%7E:text=Costa%20Rica%20has%20ranked%20among,from%20January%20to%20mid%2D2022">completely overwhelmed</a>. To expect Costa Rica to do more, and take in the refugees the U.S. turns away, is not reasonable or fair.</p>
<h2>What will be the policy’s impact?</h2>
<p>This rule will deny thousands of migrants fleeing persecution their right to seek asylum at the United States’ southern border. They will be returned to Mexico, where <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/06/mexico-asylum-seekers-face-abuses-southern-border">human rights organizations have documented</a> high levels of violence and exploitation of migrants, or deported to their home countries.</p>
<p>Beyond the individual human impact, the implementation of this rule will send the wrong signal to other countries that have – like the United States – ratified international refugee treaties and passed laws committing to protect those fleeing persecution.</p>
<p>The message is that flouting legal obligations is acceptable, as is the outsourcing of refugee protection to smaller countries with far less resources. The exodus of refugees from Ukraine and <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/03/26/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-united-efforts-of-the-free-world-to-support-the-people-of-ukraine/">U.S. efforts to encourage European countries</a> to accept those fleeing the conflict underscore the importance of encouraging nations to take in refugees. Leading by bad example will only undermine that principle.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200501/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Musalo receives funding from National Science Foundation in the past.
I am a full-time law professor and director of the law school's Center for Gender & Refugee Studies.</span></em></p>With the expiration of a pandemic-era restriction, the Biden administration is set to impose a new rule to curtail immigration at the US-Mexico border.Karen Musalo, Professor of International Law, University of California College of the Law, San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1341152020-08-03T11:58:34Z2020-08-03T11:58:34ZCoronavirus: The ‘yellow peril’ revisited<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349725/original/file-20200727-27-1rsrot5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C22%2C3000%2C2142&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rhetoric that casts COVID-19 as a Chinese virus stigmatizes Asian people and plays into racist tropes of a 'yellow peril.' </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This past spring, Asian students at Queen’s University indicated that they were victims of racial discrimination as a result of COVID–19. Their complaints echoed <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/despite-hesitations-these-chinese-students-say-they-still-plan-to-study-in-canada/">similar incidents of racial discrimination and exclusion of Chinese students</a> at other Canadian universities. </p>
<p>This rise in anti-Asian sentiments is not limited to university campuses.
The president of the United States <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1285299379746811915">recently yet again called COVID–19 the “China Virus.”</a> While some American officials have <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/24/kellyanne-conway-trump-kung-flu-coronavirus-337682">tried to downplay</a> the president’s rhetoric, others <a href="https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1240364608390606850">blamed China’s culture</a> for the virus.</p>
<p>Despite <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203076804">consensus among social scientists</a> that race is a social construct, <a href="https://time.com/5797836/coronavirus-racism-stereotypes-attacks/">xenophobic attacks on Chinese communities</a> and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marshallshepherd/2020/02/28/the-science-of-why-coronavirus-exposes-racism-and-xenophobia/#41823e293695">Asians at large during the pandemic</a> show that race has real life consequences for groups marked as an other. </p>
<p>Blaming Chinese people or Chinese culture for the pandemic only serves to reinforce stereotypes of East Asians as the “yellow peril.”</p>
<p>How do constructions of the Chinese as “diseased” inform their dehumanization and that of East Asian communities in Canada and globally? How does their dehumanization at this time mirror the techniques of racialization of other racial and ethnic groups that have often played out in popular media? These are difficult questions that can be better understood by examining the racism that Chinese communities in Canada and the U.S. have suffered well before they were regarded as members of today’s “<a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315636313">model minority.</a>” </p>
<h2>The new ‘yellow peril’?</h2>
<p>Chinese immigrants first arrived in Canada when Chang Tsoo and Ah Hong entered British Columbia <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/phr.2007.76.4.537">to prospect in the Cariboo gold rush in 1858.</a></p>
<p>By 1882, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2012.708995">Chinese Exclusion Act</a> legally restricted Chinese labourers from the U.S. and resulted in Chinese migration to Canada and Mexico. At the time, the law was the first of its kind at the federal level in the U.S. and denied Chinese immigration for over 80 years.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white photo showing a group of Chinese people sitting on the deck of a ship." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348474/original/file-20200720-151933-14kmwnq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348474/original/file-20200720-151933-14kmwnq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348474/original/file-20200720-151933-14kmwnq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348474/original/file-20200720-151933-14kmwnq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348474/original/file-20200720-151933-14kmwnq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348474/original/file-20200720-151933-14kmwnq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348474/original/file-20200720-151933-14kmwnq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chinese immigrants to Canada on the deck of the Black Diamond sailing vessel circa 1889.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&rec_nbr=3193369&lang=eng">Library & Archives Canada</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The act was in place until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 and prohibited Chinese labourers, both skilled and unskilled, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/683186">from entering the U.S.</a> </p>
<p>In a study of the historical antecedents of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), writer Carianne Leung found that Chinese communities in Canada were <a href="https://www.academia.edu/919335/Yellow_peril_revisited_Impact_of_SARS_on_the_Chinese_and_Southeast_Asian_Canadian_communities">historically constructed as the “yellow peril” and their presence compared to that of the plague</a>. Chinese settlements in the country “were regarded with the same hysteria as an infectious disease spreading across Canada.” </p>
<p>In 1885, <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/vancouver-s-chinatown-products-9780773513297.php">a commissioner described Vancouver’s Chinatown</a> as an “ulcer” and suggested that, if left untreated, would “cause disease in the places around it and ultimately the whole body.” At that time, newspapers discursively cast Chinatowns as relating to “disease and filth.” By the mid 1890s, the Vancouver municipal council included Chinatowns as categories for inspection, along with “sewage,” “slaughter houses” and “pig ranches.”</p>
<p>Linking COVID-19 with China invokes a well worn narrative of Chinese people as “diseased,” a link also present with the appearance of SARS in 2003. It is a technique of racialization that works to dehumanize via discursive practices. Language is used to cast Chinese communities as a foreign and dangerous other. In this example, the idea of illness, sickness and disease is invoked. A group must first be dehumanized and stripped of their humanity before their marginalization can be justified. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white photo of Vancouver's Chinatown" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349416/original/file-20200724-27-q626l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349416/original/file-20200724-27-q626l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349416/original/file-20200724-27-q626l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349416/original/file-20200724-27-q626l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349416/original/file-20200724-27-q626l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349416/original/file-20200724-27-q626l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349416/original/file-20200724-27-q626l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chinatown, Vancouver, B.C. No date.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(William James Topley/Library and Archives Canada, PA-009561).</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These discursive practices provide justifications for marginalization, distrust, exclusion and increased social distancing between Chinese communities and other communities.</p>
<h2>A technique of dehumanization</h2>
<p>Wherever a pandemic goes <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-covid19-xenophobia-racism/607816/">xenophobia is never far behind</a>. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus reports of racism toward East Asian communities have grown apace. </p>
<p>In a CBC radio story, Amy Go, president of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice said that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/racism-coronavirus-canada-1.5449023">many of her friends and family members experienced racism</a> due to misinformation and stereotyping about the disease. Meanwhile, in the United States, Chinese Americans are <a href="https://time.com/5858649/racism-coronavirus/">increasingly becoming the targets of xenophobic attacks</a>. </p>
<p>Earlier this year, a University College London student from Singapore was racially assaulted. The perpetrators, two boys aged 15 and 16, allegedly shouted, “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-51771355">I don’t want your coronavirus in my country</a>.” </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-covid19-xenophobia-racism/607816/">In a recent article for <em>The Atlantic</em>, Yasmeetn Serhan and Timothy McLauglin write</a> that pandemics often isolate specific groups, as indicated by the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-29714657">targeting of Africans during the 2014 Ebola outbreak</a>. With this in mind, the World Health Organization (WHO) refrained from linking the virus to a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/18/who-officials-warn-us-president-trump-against-calling-coronavirus-the-chinese-virus.html">specific geographic location</a> when it was first described to the global community.</p>
<p>Dehumanization is often the first and most insidious technique of racialization. The racism accompanying the spread of and response to COVID-19 must be addressed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134115/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anita Jack-Davies, PhD does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Stating that COVID-19 is a “Chinese” disease, dehumanizes and reinforces well-worn stereotypes of Chinese people as the “yellow peril.”Anita Jack-Davies, PhD, Adjunct Professor - Department of Geography & Urban Planning, Queen's University, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1223112019-09-05T18:50:00Z2019-09-05T18:50:00ZMany sick and disabled people are refused permanent visas. We need compassion not discrimination<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290024/original/file-20190829-184229-tj7uxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C79%2C998%2C586&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australia has changed the way it decides whether children with Down syndrome, and other conditions, can migrate permanently to Australia. But the changes don't go far enough.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cute-smiling-down-syndrome-girl-on-699733051?src=-1-0">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A three-year-old boy with haemophilia and an acquired brain injury <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/boy-with-disabilities-who-could-die-if-he-leaves-australia-to-have-visa-rejection-reviewed">is facing removal</a> from the country because the home affairs department has ruled his medical costs would unduly burden Australian taxpayers.</p>
<p>Kayban Jamshaad’s case is before Perth’s <a href="https://www.aat.gov.au/">Administrative Appeal Tribunal</a> where his parents claim that removal to their home country of the Maldives would be a death sentence because he would lose the medical care he needs to survive.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-can-go-wrong-in-the-blood-a-brief-overview-of-bleeding-clotting-and-cancer-76400">What can go wrong in the blood? A brief overview of bleeding, clotting and cancer</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The case <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/hearing-impaired-bhutanese-teen-faces-world-of-isolation-as-deportation-from-australia-looms">highlights</a> <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/this-single-mother-could-be-one-of-the-last-to-have-her-australian-visa-rejected-over-hepatitis-b">one</a> <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/year-12-student-and-family-will-be-allowed-to-stay-in-australia-after-ministerial-intervention">example</a> of how a migrant’s health or disability can affect their visa status.</p>
<p>In this case, as with many others making the <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/audio/senator-says-urgency-needed-to-stop-filipino-migrant-family-from-being-deported??&fbclid=IwAR0kjKkFIbGYmyvCiJafD5Dpgcc58vQiwE8C15PHTol0qiuNyB5HbW8BIJ4">news</a>, Kayban’s family had been living happy and productive lives in Australia on temporary visas.</p>
<p>Transitioning to permanent status, however, involves more onerous <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/what-is-the-health-requirement-for-australian-visa-applicants-and-how-could-it-affect-you">health requirements</a> that deny visas to people likely to require care or use scarce community resources. Applicants are <a href="http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/consol_reg/mr1994227/sch4.html">assessed</a> against their “deemed cost”, regardless of what health or community services they will actually use. </p>
<p>The immigration minister has the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Former_Committees/minmig/report/c02">power</a> to grant someone a permanent visa if they fail any of the health tests, but only when intervention is in the “public interest”.</p>
<h2>Rules are discriminatory, obscure and unfair</h2>
<p>Complaints about the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/house_of_representatives_committees?url=mig/disability/report.htm">migration health rules</a> have focused on their bluntly discriminatory nature and questionable service to Australia’s national interests. </p>
<p>The rules make no distinction between disease and disability: the assumption is both are equally burdensome. </p>
<p>No attempt is made to balance someone’s “cost” against his or her contribution to Australia. The algorithms used to determine cost, including projected costs over time, are also opaque. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/visa-policy-for-overseas-students-with-a-disability-is-nonsensical-and-discriminatory-89537">Visa policy for overseas students with a disability is nonsensical and discriminatory</a>
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</em>
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<p>Australia’s discriminatory treatment of migrants with diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, and disabilities is protected by caveats it has created under both domestic and international laws. </p>
<p>The Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act 1992 exempts migration decisions from full compliance with that Act.</p>
<p>Australia has also lodged an “interpretive declaration” to Article 18 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which addresses liberty of movement. </p>
<p>Yet the central focus of both the Disability Discrimination Act and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is to acknowledge people with disabilities as rights bearers who are entitled to dignity and equal treatment before the law.</p>
<p>The UN Committee overseeing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has identified the migration health rules as a matter of concern. When Australia appears before the Committee <a href="https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=1342&Lang=en">later this month</a> it will be asked to account for the measures. </p>
<h2>Tests for HIV and other infectious diseases</h2>
<p>In Australia, all visa applicants aged 15 or over <a href="http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/consol_reg/mr1994227/sch4.html">must be tested</a> for HIV, tuberculosis and other diseases considered a public health risk.</p>
<p>Australia continues to test for HIV despite <a href="https://www.unaids.org/en/keywords/travel-restrictions">comparator countries</a> no longer doing so.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290027/original/file-20190829-184211-9yuo7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290027/original/file-20190829-184211-9yuo7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290027/original/file-20190829-184211-9yuo7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290027/original/file-20190829-184211-9yuo7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290027/original/file-20190829-184211-9yuo7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290027/original/file-20190829-184211-9yuo7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290027/original/file-20190829-184211-9yuo7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290027/original/file-20190829-184211-9yuo7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People with HIV are automatically considered a public health risk and cannot migrate to Australia permanently.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/diagonal-test-tubes-blood-blue-lids-1248512638?src=-1-40">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>Australia has ignored recommendations from the <a href="http://halc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/140729-Final-Report.pdf">UN Programme on HIV/AIDS and others</a> to soften its hard stance on people with HIV by abandoning mandatory testing and acknowledging the success and modest cost of available therapies. </p>
<h2>Some softening of the rules</h2>
<p>Persistent lobbying on the health rules themselves has seen some movement. Although, the government seems to have gone out of its way to ensure modest rule changes in July were made <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/exclusive-government-quietly-relaxes-controversial-visa-policy-affecting-people-with-disabilities">quietly</a>. </p>
<p>In determining whether someone will incur health costs, officials consider a person’s age, state of health and (if relevant) their particular disease or disability. </p>
<p>Before July 2019, virtually all children born with conditions such as <a href="https://cerebralpalsy.org.au/our-research/about-cerebral-palsy/what-is-cerebral-palsy/">cerebral palsy</a>, <a href="https://www.downsyndrome.org.au/what_is_down_syndrome.html">Down syndrome</a> or <a href="https://www.autismspectrum.org.au/about-autism/what-is-autism">autism</a> faced exclusion.</p>
<p>This was because projected health costs were capped at A$40,000, assessed against life expectancy or visa duration. </p>
<p>Children with similar conditions are now tested against a A$49,000 cap over ten years. The changes are modest but offer some hope.</p>
<p>But applicants are still assessed against <a href="http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/consol_reg/mr1994227/sch4.html">deemed cost</a> even if they do not access services.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-causes-cerebral-palsy-and-can-it-be-prevented-37742">Explainer: what causes cerebral palsy and can it be prevented?</a>
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<h2>The future</h2>
<p>Australia can ensure immigration does not result in undue burden without ditching fairness and humanity. A good starting point would be “nett benefit” health rules that measure a migrant’s contributions as well as projected costs.</p>
<p>Allowing officials to weigh benefit against burden would also free the minister from endless petitions to personally intervene.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122311/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Crock is a migration agent and an accredited law specialist in immigration law.</span></em></p>How Australia treats migrants with health conditions and disabilities is discriminatory, obscure and unfair, as the UN will hear later this month.Mary Crock, Professor of Public Law, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1149562019-04-05T17:39:16Z2019-04-05T17:39:16ZNixon and Reagan tried closing the border to pressure Mexico – here’s what happened<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267845/original/file-20190405-180029-8r970h.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nixon's Operation Intercept in 1969 led to massive traffic jams. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Just a week ago, President Donald Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1111653530316746752">appeared poised to take the drastic step</a> of closing the U.S.-Mexico border to both trade and travel. He said he wanted to stop the flood of Central American migrants entering the United States but also punish Mexico for failing to do so.</p>
<p>But on April 4, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-backs-off-threat-to-close-southern-border-immediately-says-hell-give-mexico-one-year-warning-on-drugs-migrants/2019/04/04/5fd35dfa-56f6-11e9-814f-e2f46684196e_story.html?utm_term=.d8b8dbddc057">president backpedaled</a> and instead gave Mexico a year to stop the flow of drugs across the border. If that didn’t happen, he threatened, auto tariffs would be imposed – and the president suggested he might still close the border if that didn’t work.</p>
<p>If Trump ever follows through on his threat and puts up a closed sign at the southern border, it wouldn’t be the first time. Twice in the last half-century the U.S. has tried to use the border to force Mexico to bend to America’s will. The ruse failed both times. </p>
<p><a href="https://as.vanderbilt.edu/history/bio/aileen-teague">I studied these incidents</a> while researching for a book on the origins of U.S. drug control policies and militarized policing techniques in Mexico from the 1960s to the 1990s. The history suggests that threats of border closure may be politically useful but are never a real answer to human tragedy.</p>
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<h2>Operation Intercept</h2>
<p>In 1969, President Richard Nixon <a href="https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB86/">launched Operation Intercept</a> in hopes of forcing Mexico to collaborate more fully with his administration’s policies to stop the flow of drugs – <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1406640?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">one of his campaign promises</a>. </p>
<p>Although it technically wasn’t a full border closure, it required customs agents to search every car, truck and bus entering the United States. This <a href="https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB86/">caused long delays and a significant drop in economic activity</a> in both countries. Border businesses and politicians <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1406640?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">begged Nixon</a> to end Operation Intercept.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Mexican leaders paid lip service to U.S. demands, based on my archival research. They highlighted the progress they had already made in their anti-drug operations and vowed to “continue with increasing intensity.”</p>
<p>Mexico even said it was willing to accept American anti-drug aid – such as aircraft and sophisticated weaponry – in order to help the Nixon administration fight its drug war. </p>
<p>In the end, however, <a href="https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB86/intercept17.pdf">nothing substantial</a> changed. The border reopened after three weeks. </p>
<p>The incident did, however, teach Mexican leaders how to appease similar American demands in the future by using the right “war on drugs” rhetoric. </p>
<p>But in practice, drug control was never a top priority of the Mexican government. And Mexico even used American anti-drug policies to its own advantage. For example, in the 1970s, the country received U.S. financial aid to stem the flow of drugs. It <a href="https://isreview.org/issue/90/political-economy-mexicos-drug-war">used at least some of the money</a> to suppress domestic political dissent instead. </p>
<h2>History repeats</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://time.com/3853971/1971-waron-drugs">war on drugs</a> also inspired President Ronald Reagan’s partial border closure in 1985. Aptly named Operation Intercept II, it suffered a similar fate. </p>
<p>The Mexican authorities <a href="https://www.dea.gov/kiki-and-history-red-ribbon-week">were unable to find</a> a kidnapped Drug Enforcement Administration agent, and the White House once again decided to use the border to force them into more vigorous action, closing nine checkpoints. </p>
<p>Ordinary Mexicans saw this border closure as yet another form of “Yankee imperialism.” They wondered how the disappearance of one agent could cause such an uproar when <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/cron/">hundreds of Mexicans</a> had been killed as a result of our “war on drugs.” The abducted agent was later found dead. </p>
<p>Although the border was reopened within a matter of days, once again, the shutdown severely hurt the border economy – as well as relations between the two countries. </p>
<h2>Border closings make bad policy</h2>
<p>Both versions of Operation Intercept were severely disruptive while failing to motivate any meaningful changes in Mexican policy on drug control, border security or anything else. </p>
<p>Put another way, they showed that it is effectively impossible to close the U.S.-Mexico border, or to severely restrict traffic, for any extended period of time. The economic, social and cultural interdependence of Mexico and the United States is <a href="https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB86/intercept18.pdf">too deep</a>. And U.S. national security depends on strong relations with Mexico.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-37230916/drug-dealers-criminals-rapists-what-trump-thinks-of-mexicans">Trump’s warnings</a> about an “invasion” of Hispanic rapists and gang members may appeal to his supporters. His threat to close the border may as well. But, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/04/us/politics/mexico-border-trump.html">his advisers apparently pointed out to him</a>, border closings do little more than damage economies and foster resentments. Immigration would dip but hardly stop.</p>
<p>Mexico and the United States are allies, not enemies. The way I see it, pushing Mexico and other nations to do America’s bidding on highly complex problems like drug control and migration simply produces more antagonism while failing to achieve the desired results.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114956/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aileen Teague has received funding from Fulbright, the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, and the Eisenhower Roberts Foundation. </span></em></p>Both presidents brought border traffic and trade to a standstill in hopes of changing Mexican policy in the drug war. And both failed to achieve their goals.Aileen Teague, Postdoctoral Fellow, Brown UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/993572018-07-10T10:40:34Z2018-07-10T10:40:34ZWhich 3-letter agency is enforcing US immigration laws at the border?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226806/original/file-20180709-122259-1kay2az.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters hold up signs outside of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Jeff Chiu</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/que-hace-ice-la-agencia-federal-responsable-de-aplicar-las-leyes-de-inmigracion-en-eeuu-99807"><em>Leer en español</em></a>.</p>
<p>You may have heard the “Abolish ICE” slogan chanted or seen it on signs at rallies against the Trump administration’s immigration policies. </p>
<p>This slogan has become popular after it was reported that <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/06/baby-jails-donald-trump-immigration">children were being separated</a> from their families at the border. As an immigration scholar, I have been <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SY4FRAgAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">writing</a> about immigration law enforcement for over a decade. I find the slogan somewhat counterintuitive because what is happening at the border is primarily under the purview of Customs and Border Protection, not Immigration and Customs Enforcement. </p>
<p>Here’s a breakdown of which agencies are doing what to enforce immigration laws in the U.S.</p>
<h2>Creation of ICE</h2>
<p>In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Congress passed the <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/homeland-security-act-2002">Homeland Security Act of 2002</a>. This act mandated the creation of a new Department of Homeland Security as part of a broader strategy in the “war on terrorism.” </p>
<p>The new department came to life in 2003 and took over all operations of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, which had been responsible for immigration law enforcement as well as processing immigration and citizenship applications. This was the most <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Immigration_Nation.html?id=XPTxZwEACAAJ">significant transformation</a> of the federal government since the creation of the Department of Defense.</p>
<p>Today, the Department of Homeland Security enforces immigration laws primarily through two of its agencies: Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520266414/migra">Customs and Border Protection</a> has existed as a government agency since 1924 and is primarily responsible for enforcing laws at the border. It only has jurisdiction up to 100 miles in from U.S. land borders and at ports of entry such as airports.</p>
<p>Immigration and Customs Enforcement was created in 2003 and is primarily responsible for enforcing immigration laws in the rest of United States. The other immigration agency within Homeland Security is U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which processes applications for immigration and citizenship. Prior to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, immigration enforcement and application processing were managed by divisions of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.</p>
<h2>Follow the money</h2>
<p>The creation of the Department of Homeland Security changed immigration law enforcement in two ways. </p>
<p>First, it transferred immigration law enforcement from the Department of Justice to Homeland Security. This transition solidified the perception of immigration law enforcement as an integral part of <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Immigration_Nation.html?id=XPTxZwEACAAJ">national security</a>. The link between immigration and terrorism is not new, but it has become amplified in the fight against terrorism.</p>
<p>Second, it entailed a massive infusion of money into immigration law enforcement. ICE’s <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/DHS%20FY18%20BIB%20Final.pdf">current budget</a> of US$7.9 billion is larger than the entire budget of the INS. In 2002, the INS’ last year of existence, its budget was $7.2 billion in 2018 dollars.</p>
<p>Customs and Border Protection’s budget is even bigger at $16.4 billion. These funds support 20,258 border agents – an all-time record, despite <a href="https://theconversation.com/todays-us-mexico-border-crisis-in-6-charts-98922">record low numbers</a> of people trying to illegally enter the United States.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-enhancing-public-safety-interior-united-states/">2017 executive order</a> on immigration enforcement mandated a tripling of ICE agents from 5,000 to 15,000 agents. However, the 2018 DHS budget only includes funding for 1,000 additional ICE agents. Congress has been <a href="https://www.govexec.com/management/2018/03/congress-rejects-trumps-bid-more-immigration-enforcement-and-border-patrol-agents/146978/">unwilling to fund</a> more.</p>
<h2>Enforcement and deportations</h2>
<p>Critics of the Trump administration have taken to the streets to protest immigration policy in far greater numbers than they did during the Obama administration. Immigration is a central component of Trump’s platform. However, the number of deportations during the current administration is far <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-05-15/trump-is-deporting-fewer-immigrants-than-obama-did">lower than under President Barack Obama</a>.</p>
<p>Obama presided over record-high numbers of deportations. Some <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/obama-record-deportations-deporter-chief-or-not">3 million people</a> total were deported during the <a href="https://www.economist.com/united-states/2017/12/14/donald-trump-is-deporting-fewer-people-than-barack-obama-did">Obama administration</a> – more than any previous administration and at a far higher rate than that of the current administration.</p>
<p>For the past 20 years, aggressive immigration law enforcement has been a constant across Democrat and Republican administrations. Democratic President Bill Clinton <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Immigration_Nation.html?id=XPTxZwEACAAJ">signed laws</a> in 1996 that greatly expanded deportations. Republican George Bush created the Department of Homeland Security and, in effect, ICE. The creation of the Department of Homeland Security led to a spike in the number of people deported from the U.S.</p>
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<p>The number of people <a href="http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/517/">taken into custody</a> by ICE increased throughout the first term of the Obama administration, declined during Obama’s second term, and has begun to increase again. Presently, ICE apprehensions are <a href="http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/517/">about half</a> what they were during the peak of the Obama administration. Data on ICE apprehensions provide a good sense of immigration law enforcement efforts inside the United States, while data on Border Protection apprehensions provide a good measure of how many people are attempting to illegally enter the United States across a land border.</p>
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<p>It is extremely unlikely that the Trump administration will abolish ICE. Protesters against Trump’s immigration policies are part of a broader <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/7/17209710/trump-protest-poll">trend of high turnout</a> at protests under his administration. There will likely continue to be plenty for immigration rights advocates to protest.</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to correct the name of the agency responsible for enforcement at the border and ports of entry.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99357/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanya Golash-Boza received funding from a Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Award to conduct research on deportations.</span></em></p>An immigration expert breaks through the alphabet soup of federal agencies responsible for enforcing immigration laws.Tanya Golash-Boza, Professor, University of California, MercedLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/899982018-01-19T11:42:44Z2018-01-19T11:42:44ZAhead of government shutdown, Congress sets its sights on not-so-comprehensive immigration reform<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202587/original/file-20180119-80197-1vw54m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Senators meet with President Donald Trump to discuss immigration on Jan. 9, 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Evan Vucci</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For a moment, it looked as though 2018 might be the year that ended a three-decade streak of failure to pass so-called “comprehensive immigration reform.”</p>
<p>On Jan. 11, a <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/11/dreamers-deal-reached-but-trump-has-yet-to-sign-off-336501">bipartisan group of six senators</a> brought forth a plan for comprehensive reform that would include US$2.7 billion for border security, a pathway to citizenship for “Dreamers” brought to the country without authorization as children, a limit on those Dreamers sponsoring their parents for citizenship and a reallocation of “diversity visas” to immigrants with <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status">recently terminated</a> Temporary Protected Status visas.</p>
<p>Prospects for the deal have dimmed since President Donald Trump, who had previously expressed sympathy for Dreamers, <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/17/trump-credibility-capitol-hill-lawmakers-negotiating-342989">abruptly torpedoed it</a>. But the rudiments of a workable deal are still in place. If it ends up succeeding, it will be in no small part because it sidesteps the one issue that has deadlocked comprehensive reform since the 1990s: undocumented immigrants.</p>
<p>The only remotely viable path to a “comprehensive” deal, it seems, is to leave millions of undocumented immigrants who are not Dreamers out in the cold.</p>
<h2>The ‘amnesty’ stumbling block</h2>
<p>Americans of all political stripes, and their elected officials, have <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/09/30/on-views-of-immigrants-americans-largely-split-along-party-lines/">long agreed</a> that the U.S. immigration system is “broken.” Yet since the last major round of reforms in the 1980s and 1990s, efforts at “comprehensive immigration reform” spearheaded by presidents of both parties and enjoying bipartisan congressional support have gone nowhere. America’s foundational laws regarding immigrants have remained largely intact since Lyndon Johnson occupied the White House. They are the <a href="https://cis.org/Report/HartCeller-Immigration-Act-1965">Hart-Celler Act of 1965</a>, later amended by the <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/its-25th-anniversary-ircas-legacy-lives">Immigration Reform and Control Act</a> of 1986, and the <a href="https://immigration.laws.com/immigration-act-of-1990">Immigration Act of 1990</a>.</p>
<p>The main stumbling block has been hostility, mainly on the Republican side, to normalizing the status of millions of immigrants living in the country without permission. This hostility developed fairly recently, driven almost entirely by pressure to please a small but rabidly anti-immigrant base. George W. Bush largely escaped pressure to harden his relatively moderate positions prior to his election in 2000, and <a href="https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/stateoftheunion/2007/initiatives/immigration.html">actively pursued</a> comprehensive immigration reform as president. </p>
<p>But since then, serious GOP presidential candidates have increasingly had to toughen up on immigration policy in order to make it through to the general election.</p>
<p>The 2008 election witnessed the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-appalling-last-act-of-rudy-giuliani">rebirth of Rudy Giuliani</a> – formerly a relatively tolerant mayor of a “sanctuary city” – as a border security hawk and illegal immigration hard-liner. More notable still that year was Sen. John McCain, who was <a href="http://content.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1818697,00.html">forced to back off</a> his longtime support for comprehensive immigration.</p>
<p>Donald Trump, of course, <a href="http://time.com/3923128/donald-trump-announcement-speech/">launched his 2016 bid for the GOP presidential nomination</a> by railing against drug smugglers, criminals and rapists he <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-mexicans-are-leaving-the-us-than-coming-across-the-border-51296">falsely alleged</a> are streaming into the U.S. illegally from Mexico. </p>
<p>Observers understand this hostility to “amnesty” in different ways. <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/anti-immigrant-rhetoric-anti-latino/">Some see it</a> as racially motivated, and tied to hostility against Latinos and other ethnic minorities. However, my colleague Morris Levy and I have <a href="https://cloudfront.escholarship.org/dist/prd/content/qt19m3r9c7/qt19m3r9c7.pdf">shown in our research</a> that much of it is tied to deep conceptions about the rule of law. By this logic, roughly one-third of Americans, according to our study, reject undocumented immigrants categorically. That is, they reject them solely on the basis of breaking the law, without regard to ethnicity or other characteristics.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/mass-opinion-and-immigration-policy-in-the-united-states-re-assessing-clientelist-and-elitist-perspectives/1461C6DF33BE8E552DFFF1DC8A7993BD">We have argued</a> that this is why there is still no path to citizenship for the <a href="https://theconversation.com/counting-11-million-undocumented-immigrants-is-easier-than-you-think-67921">11 million or so</a> undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S.</p>
<h2>Narrowing what ‘comprehensive’ means</h2>
<p>It’s no surprise then that, of late, the debate has devolved exclusively to address the fate of Dreamers. As some of our work indicates, Dreamers do not provoke the intransigent hostility that other undocumented immigrants do. They are less likely to be viewed as “law-breakers,” and more likely to win support on humanitarian grounds.</p>
<p>In effect, the vast majority of undocumented immigrants have been written out of immigration reform altogether. The more limited deal in circulation would give Democrats a “win” with respect to illegal immigration, even if it is less than the total victory they have long sought. The concessions they offer in return – limited funding for border security, some effort to limit so-called “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/01/07/576301232/explaining-chain-migration">chain migration</a>,” and the redirecting of “diversity lottery” visas to some immigrants previously on temporary status – <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/294853-black-caucus-concerned-by-end-of-diversity-visas-in-senate-immigration-bill">are not uncontroversial</a>. However, none is likely to generate anything like the reaction “amnesty” produces among categorical opponents of illegal immigration.</p>
<p>Can those undocumented immigrants hope for reprieve down the line?</p>
<p>There is precedent for large-scale amnesty: The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128303672">legalized nearly 3 million</a> undocumented immigrants in exchange for relatively weak enforcement provisions. But given the uniquely intransigent positions taken on both sides of the issue, it is hard to imagine another such bill in the offing any time soon.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89998/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Wright does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If they pass a deal on DACA, it’s a win for both sides of the aisle and thousands of ‘Dreamers,’ but a loss for millions of undocumented immigrants.Matthew Wright, Assistant professor of government, American University School of Public AffairsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/867452017-11-02T00:14:50Z2017-11-02T00:14:50ZUS shouldn’t give up benefits of ‘green card lottery’ over low risk of terrorism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192915/original/file-20171101-19867-15qhh1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Statue of Liberty casts a wary eye at the bike path that runs along the western edge of Manhattan, where the Oct. 31 attack occurred. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Songquan Deng/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>After a man barreled down a New York City bike path on Oct. 31, killing eight, President Donald Trump reacted by <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/01/politics/donald-trump-chuck-schumer-nyc-attack/index.html">calling for an end</a> to the “green card lottery” program that <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-01/trump-says-new-york-suspect-s-visa-was-a-chuck-schumer-beauty">allowed the attacker</a> to enter the country. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/immigrate/diversity-visa/entry.html">Diversity Immigrant Visa Program</a>, as it is officially known, has been in the sights of the president for a while. In August, Trump <a href="http://time.com/4885453/donald-trump-legal-immigration-bill/">publicly backed</a> a GOP bill that would end the program and replace it with a merit-based system. </p>
<p>Trump and his fellow Republicans have long decried illegal immigration, but they have <a href="https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/still-proimmigration-party">traditionally favored</a> the legal kind, partly because their <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/23/gop-must-embrace-pro-immigration-policy-big-donors/">business donors demand it</a>. </p>
<p>As someone who researches the impact of immigration on workers, I believe their plans to change who can enter the country legally is a big mistake. We would be giving up a program that benefits American workers with very little chance of a gain in safety.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192903/original/file-20171101-19900-nv6pl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192903/original/file-20171101-19900-nv6pl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192903/original/file-20171101-19900-nv6pl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192903/original/file-20171101-19900-nv6pl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192903/original/file-20171101-19900-nv6pl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192903/original/file-20171101-19900-nv6pl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192903/original/file-20171101-19900-nv6pl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">While the driver reportedly entered the country through a green card, very few Americans have been killed by recipients of such visas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Curbing immigration</h2>
<p>While <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-suspect-entered-u-s-diversity-visa-lottery-blames-schumer-n816346">Trump’s tweets</a> about the lottery program are based on security concerns, the usual argument supporting curbs on immigration is that new arrivals hurt native-born American workers and the economy at large. </p>
<p>I’ll leave analyzing the security concerns to other experts; suffice it to say that <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41747.pdf">the risk, according to experts, is very small</a>. Green card holders <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/halloween-terror-attack-new-york-threat-foreign-born-terrorists">have killed just 16 people</a> – including yesterday – in terror attacks on U.S. soil since 1975.</p>
<p>As for the economic impact on U.S.-born workers, the key thing to bear in mind is that the more homogeneous and similar immigrants are to natives, the greater the odds they’ll in fact have a negative effect.</p>
<p>In contrast, immigrants who come from diverse backgrounds with a range of skills – such as the lottery winners and the so-called “Dreamers” – tend to produce greater economic benefits. That may be one reason <a href="http://www.salon.com/2017/09/05/daca-has-made-sense-to-me-republican-lawmakers-pledge-to-support-daca-over-trump/">at least some Republicans</a> and <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/05/poll-trump-deporting-daca-dreamers-242343">most Americans</a> are in favor of keeping the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals program that protects the Dreamers from deportation, which <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration/trump-ends-dreamer-immigration-program-places-onus-on-congress-idUSKCN1BG0H2">Trump recently ended</a>. </p>
<h2>A new approach</h2>
<p>Currently, the U.S. receives a lot of immigrants without a college degree or with imperfect English. About half of immigrants fit either description.</p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<p><iframe id="y6110" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/y6110/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<p>Legislation proposed earlier this summer – the <a href="http://static.politico.com/fd/af/3eebc635479892982f81bdfe3fa2/raise-act.pdf">Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act</a> – would exclude most such workers and reduce the total number of green cards awarding permanent legal U.S. residence to just over 500,000 from more than one million today. </p>
<p>It would also end the <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/greencard/diversity-visa">green card lottery</a>, which awards <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Lawful_Permanent_Residents_2015.pdf">50,000</a> green cards a year to people from countries with low rates of immigration to the U.S. </p>
<p>Importantly, it would also change who gets a leg up when applying for a green card. Currently, family of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents, including siblings and adult children, are able to apply. The new system would limit that to minor children and spouses. </p>
<p>Instead, the bill would create a point-based system like those used in countries such as the U.K. and Australia that use factors such as English ability, education and job offers to rank applicants. However, <a href="http://econofact.org/should-immigrants-be-admitted-to-the-united-states-based-on-merit">it would be stricter</a> than point systems used in those countries, which admit immigrants through other programs as well. </p>
<p>In essence, the plan would make the pool of immigrants more homogeneous and dramatically smaller in number, mirroring the misguided <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=H__52jKXgBwC&pg=PP1&dq=Mae+M.+Ngai&ei=7E3ySouONpX0zASruM3bAw#v=onepage&q&f=false">origin-based restrictions from the 1920s</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186089/original/file-20170914-8971-19cpt63.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186089/original/file-20170914-8971-19cpt63.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186089/original/file-20170914-8971-19cpt63.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186089/original/file-20170914-8971-19cpt63.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186089/original/file-20170914-8971-19cpt63.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186089/original/file-20170914-8971-19cpt63.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186089/original/file-20170914-8971-19cpt63.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The DACA program’s inherent diversity is what makes it a boon for the U.S. economy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What economists say</h2>
<p>Those who wish to restrict immigration <a href="http://www.jacksonsun.com/story/opinion/columnists/2017/08/07/less-immigration-means-more-american-jobs-higher-wages/544478001/">often cite</a> what they naïvely call “supply-and-demand economics” to essentially argue that the economy is a fixed pie that gets divided among a country’s residents. Fewer immigrants means “more pie” for the U.S.-born, as the story goes. </p>
<p>I am an economist, and this is not what my colleagues and I say. The commonplace argument that more immigrants, by themselves, lower wages and take jobs from Americans – an argument which Attorney General Jeff Sessions used <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/05/trump-ending-daca-dreamers-program-sessions-transcript-242326">to defend ending the “Dreamers” program</a> – has neither <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090944317300200">empirical</a> nor <a href="https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/2017/9/cato-journal-v37n3-3.pdf">theoretical</a> support in economics. It is just a myth.<br>
Instead, both theory and empirical research show that immigration, including people with few skills and little English, grows the pie and strengthens the American workforce.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186090/original/file-20170914-8971-yjj0hk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186090/original/file-20170914-8971-yjj0hk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186090/original/file-20170914-8971-yjj0hk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186090/original/file-20170914-8971-yjj0hk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186090/original/file-20170914-8971-yjj0hk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186090/original/file-20170914-8971-yjj0hk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186090/original/file-20170914-8971-yjj0hk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The main registry building on Ellis Island is shown in this 1905 photo. It was once the nation’s gateway for millions of immigrants.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Value in diversity</h2>
<p>While all the recently proposed changes to <a href="http://voxeu.org/article/global-view-cross-border-migration">our immigration system</a> will make U.S. workers worse off, the English requirement is likely to be particularly harmful to U.S. workers, especially low-skilled ones. </p>
<p>Indeed, <a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Eethang/ImmNat.pdf">I have found</a> the relative fluency of U.S.-born workers is what keeps them from being harmed from labor market competition from immigrants. </p>
<p>The reason for this is the following. Essentially, immigrants with imperfect English skills tend to specialize in jobs that are less “communication-intensive,” such as manual labor. Americans fluent in the language, on the other hand, tend to take on higher-paying, communication-intensive jobs that are out of reach of those without a strong grasp of English. In other words, these groups aren’t likely to compete for the same jobs, making them more complementary than adversarial.</p>
<p>In contrast, when new immigrants are more fluent in English, something the Trump-backed proposal would encourage, the types of occupations they are qualified for are almost identical to those of American workers. Thus, insisting on strong English skills as a condition of coming to America is likely to increase labor market competition and suppress wages. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186088/original/file-20170914-22524-1dkt8le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186088/original/file-20170914-22524-1dkt8le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186088/original/file-20170914-22524-1dkt8le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186088/original/file-20170914-22524-1dkt8le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186088/original/file-20170914-22524-1dkt8le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186088/original/file-20170914-22524-1dkt8le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186088/original/file-20170914-22524-1dkt8le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When Congress in 1964 ended the Bracero program, which allowed large numbers of Mexicans to work on U.S. farms, neither wages nor employment rates of American workers rose.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Immigration that helps</h2>
<p>Immigration that emphasizes diversity, rather than merely merit, tends to attract more people who specialize in occupations uncommon among U.S.-born workers. And, in fact, this is the key source of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/want-a-stronger-economy-give-immigrants-a-warm-welcome-73264">well-known economic benefits of immigration</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://giovanniperi.ucdavis.edu/uploads/5/6/8/2/56826033/peri_sparber_task_specialization_immigration_2010.pdf">Studies</a> by economists Giovanni Peri and Chad Sparber, for example, show this tendency toward job specialization is a key reason the large volume of low-skill immigration does not drive down incomes of Americans. Other <a href="http://giovanniperi.ucdavis.edu/uploads/5/6/8/2/56826033/ottaviano_peri_economic_value_of_cultural_diversity_2006.pdf">research</a> by Peri and Gianmarco Ottaviano shows that simply encouraging immigration from diverse origins lifts wages. </p>
<p>Put differently, there is direct evidence that the sort of diversity that the green card lottery encourages makes all Americans better off. It would be a shame to give all of that up because of a tiny risk of terrorism. </p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-dreamers-and-green-card-lottery-winners-strengthen-the-us-economy-82571">article</a> originally published on Sept. 15, 2017.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86745/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ethan Lewis receives funding from the Kauffman Foundation and the National Science Foundation.
</span></em></p>The president is urging lawmakers to end the program in the aftermath of the deadliest attack in New York City since 9/11. Doing so would be a mistake.Ethan Lewis, Associate Professor of Economics, Dartmouth CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/741462017-04-03T00:59:35Z2017-04-03T00:59:35ZWhat history reveals about surges in anti-Semitism and anti-immigrant sentiments<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163332/original/image-20170330-4565-19bkst.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More than 100 headstones were vandalized at the Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia in Feb. 2017.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This February, more than 100 gravestones were vandalized at the Chesed Shel Emeth Society <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/21/us/jewish-cemetery-vandalized/">Cemetery outside of St. Louis</a>, Missouri and at the Jewish <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/26/us/jewish-cemetery-vandalism-philadelphia/">Mount Carmel Cemetery</a> in Philadelphia.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.adl.org/">Anti-Defamation League (ADL)</a> has called anti-Semitism in the U.S. a “very serious concern.” An ADL task force confirmed that 800 journalists in the U.S. have been targeted with more than <a href="https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/adl-task-force-issues-report-detailing-widespread-anti-semitic-harassment-of">19,000 anti-Semitic tweets</a>. The organization also reported an upsurge in <a href="https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/adl-lists-top-10-manifestations-of-anti-semitism-in-2016">anti-Semitism on U.S. college campuses</a>.</p>
<p>Most disconcerting, however, is the ADL’s admission that, although this increase in anti-Semitism is troubling, “it is essential to recognize that, for both positive and negative reasons – <a href="https://www.adl.org/news/op-ed/anti-semitism-is-real-but-we-are-no-longer-alone">we are not alone.”</a> In the 10 days following the presidential election in 2016, nearly 900 hate-motivated incidents were reported, <a href="http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/heres-a-rundown-of-the-latest-campus-climate-incidents-since-trumps-election/115553">and many on college campuses</a>. Many of these incidents targeted Muslims, people of color and immigrants as well as Jews.</p>
<p>White supremacist groups like Identity Evropa, American Vanguard and American Renaissance have <a href="https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/adl-white-supremacists-making-unprecedented-effort-on-us-college-campuses-to">also been more active on college campuses.</a></p>
<p>I am a Jewish studies scholar. Research shows that this outpouring of anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic sentiment is reminiscent in many ways of the political climate during the years between the first and second world wars in the U.S. – known as the interwar period. </p>
<h2>America as the ‘melting pot’</h2>
<p>In its early years the United States maintained an “open door policy” that drew millions of immigrants from all religions to enter the country, including Jews. Between 1820 and 1880, <a href="http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=20118">over nine million immigrants entered America.</a> By the early 1880s, American nativists – people who believed that the “genetic stock” of Northern Europe was superior to that of Southern and Eastern Europe – began pushing for the exclusion of “foreigners,” whom they “viewed with deep suspicion.” </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163334/original/image-20170330-4555-m3sfc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fifty German-Jewish refugee children, ranging in age from 5 to 13, salute the American flag, June 5, 1939.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In fact, according to scholar <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barbara_Bailin">Barbara Bailin</a>, most of the immigrants, who were from Southern, Central and Eastern Europe, “were considered so different in composition, religion, and culture from earlier immigrants as to trigger a xenophobic reaction that served to generate <a href="http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&context=cc_etds_theses">more restrictive immigration laws.”</a> </p>
<p>In August 1882, Congress responded to increasing concerns about America’s “open door” policy and passed the <a href="http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&context=cc_etds_theses">Immigration Act of 1882</a>, which included a provision denying entry to “any convict, lunatic, idiot or any person unable to take care of himself without becoming a public charge.” </p>
<p>However, enforcement was not strict, in part because immigration officers working at the points of entry were expected to implement these restrictions as they saw fit. In fact, it was during the late 19th century that the American “melting pot” was born: nearly 22 million immigrants from all over the world entered the U.S. between 1881 and 1914. They included approximately 1,500,000 million European Jews hoping to escape the longstanding legally enforced <a href="http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&context=cc_etds_theses">anti-Semitism of many parts of the European continent,</a> which limited where Jews could live, what kinds of universities they could attend and what kinds of professions they could hold. </p>
<h2>Fear of Jews/immigrants</h2>
<p>Nativists continued to rail against the demographic shifts created by the United States’ lax immigration policy, and in particular took issue with the high numbers of Jews and Southern Italians entering the country, groups many nativists believed were racially inferior to Northern and Western Europeans. Nativists also voiced concerns about the <a href="http://cmsny.org/publications/kraut-nativism/">effects of cheaper labor</a> on the struggle for higher wages.</p>
<p>These fears were eventually reflected in <a href="http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&context=cc_etds_theses">the makeup of Congress</a>, since the electorate voted increasing numbers of nativist congresspeople into office who vowed to change immigration laws with their constituent’s anti-immigrant sentiments in mind.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163336/original/image-20170330-4555-11a10if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Immigrants, Ellis Island.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001704437/">Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nativist and isolationist sentiment in America only increased, as Europe fell headlong into World War I, “the war to end all wars.” On Feb. 4, 1917 Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1917, which reversed America’s open door policy and denied entry to the majority of immigrants seeking entry. As a result, between <a href="http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&context=cc_etds_theses">1918 and 1921, only 20,019</a> Jews were admitted into the U.S.</p>
<p>The 1924 Immigration Act tightened the borders further. It transferred the decision to admit or deny immigrants from the immigration officers at the port of entry to the Foreign Services Office, which issued visas after the completion of a lengthy <a href="http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&context=cc_etds_theses">application with supporting documentation.</a></p>
<p>The quotas established by the act also set strict limits on the number of new immigrants allowed after 1924. The number of Central and Eastern Europeans allowed to enter the U.S. was dramatically reduced: The 1924 quotas provided visas to a mere 2 percent of each nationality already in the U.S by 1890, and excluded immigrants from Asia completely (except for immigrants from Japan and the Phillipines). The stated fundamental purpose of this immigration act was to <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act">preserve the ideal of U.S. “homogeneity.”</a> Congress did not revise the act until 1952.</p>
<h2>Why does this history matter?</h2>
<p>The political climate of the interwar period has many similarities with the anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic environment today. </p>
<p>President Trump’s platform is comprised in large part of strongly <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/02/21/trumps-first-100-days-on-illegal-immigrants-anti-semitism-and-transgender-students/?utm_term=.1d2c3c189db4">anti-immigrant rhetoric</a>. <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/08/25/5-facts-about-trump-supporters-views-of-immigration/">A Pew Charitable Trust survey</a> shows that as many as 66 percent of registered voters who supported Trump consider immigration a “very big problem,” while only 17 percent of Hillary Clinton’s supporters said the same. Seventy-nine percent of Trump supporters embrace the proposal to build a wall “along the entire U.S. border with Mexico.” Moreover, <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/behind-trumps-victory-divisions-by-race-gender-education/">59 percent of Trump supporters actively associate</a> “unauthorized immigrants with serious criminal behavior.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163338/original/image-20170330-4588-1cn5ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Supporters of President Trump during a campaign rally.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/25218962886/in/photolist-EqvM3W-EqvH81-EziHuG-wQY9em-Dv5ErA-F2v8bb-K3nj9y-RsG4rg-jtNHFb-J9pP3u-C6xeV7-P5jt7G-StkK5Z-Jic1MB-Hnaxxk-QetVux-R837XU-HndmbC-Rm587m-QRgTcG-SsLm3g-NDDxSu-JfhLE5-QgR9Yy-Qd7Lwv-NGFgUz-MJEHo6-S9nL2h-Jikh2i-MrVHLj-BFs7WJ-Pj5unk-KJpDj3-KJpFuA-FxrwhF-RZiHJt-Dv6Szm-Nsw3BS-EqvDRw-Dv6ReA-CdHiFA-EzSAXr-CdP4D5-CdNqkh-RpCA2w-EquzPW-EquycN-EsPoqT-Q8bQws-C6u1As">Gage Skidmore</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I argue that much like the claims of interwar period nativists that Southern and Eastern European people were racially inferior, the assertions of President Trump and his supporters about immigrants and the dangers they pose are nothing more than demagoguery. The allegations about the high crime rate among immigrants are not borne out by statistical evidence: <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/08/25/5-facts-about-trump-supporters-views-of-immigration/">Immigrants are far less likely to commit crimes</a> than people born in the U.S. </p>
<p>President Trump’s claims about the dangers posed by immigrants may not be supported by facts; but they do indicate the U.S.’ increased isolationism, nativism and right-wing nationalism. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/06/us/politics/travel-ban-muslim-trump.html?_r=0">His most recent travel ban blocks</a> immigrants from six predominantly Muslim nations, and includes a 120-day freeze on Syrian refugees specifically. And yet like the Jews of Europe from the interwar period, many of these refugees seek entry into the U.S. because their very lives are at stake.</p>
<p>For many scholars like myself, Trump’s “America First” approach is a reminder of the interwar period; all over again, we see anti-immigrant sentiment and anti-Semitism, going hand in hand. In the current climate, <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/27/muslims-and-islam-key-findings-in-the-u-s-and-around-the-world/">Muslims are also easy targets</a> for a new generation of nativists, whose <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/157082/islamophobia-understanding-anti-muslim-sentiment-west.aspx">fears</a> are used to justify turning away refugees and immigrants.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74146/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ingrid Anderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The U.S. saw an increase in anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant sentiments in the period between World War I and World War II. Here’s why it matters to know that history today.Ingrid Anderson, Lecturer, Arts & Sciences Writing Program, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.