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A brief* history of how our immigration system is bullshit, with threaded highlights.
https://seeinfra.wordpress.com/2015/11/26/a-history-of-saying-no-thank-you-to-immigrants/
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* I have never once in my life committed to doing a brief anything and had it actually be short.
https://seeinfra.wordpress.com/2015/11/26/a-history-of-saying-no-thank-you-to-immigrants/
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* I have never once in my life committed to doing a brief anything and had it actually be short.
Spoiler, the system sucks and nativists are making it worse.
We begin our story in 1921 with the Immigration Act of 1921 which was from our very not racist Congress being extremely concerned by persons of poor character and health.
Since this is the internet, let me underline that was sarcasm on my part.
Since this is the internet, let me underline that was sarcasm on my part.
By COMPLETE coincidence* Congress was also concerned about national origin, and wanted to constrain flows to small, manageable percentages so as not to mess with racial balancing. COMPLETELY coincidentally** this favored W. and N. Europeans.
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*Also sarcasm
** Still Sarcasm.
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*Also sarcasm
** Still Sarcasm.
You may recognize this concern about having small groups of immigrants recast by modern restrictionists who just want to make sure that they have the best chance of assimilating. Who are definitely not concerned about racial balancing.*
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*Yes, that was a sarcastic dig at PEG.
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*Yes, that was a sarcastic dig at PEG.
When they revised the formula in 1924 to restrict immigration and citizenship by COMPLETE coincidence* certain types of people got kept out in a way that coincided with the racism of the time.
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* Look, at this point I just have to keep the bit going.
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* Look, at this point I just have to keep the bit going.
And sometimes they weren't even a little subtle about the racism.
In move that you may recognize from modern racists, formal racial restrictions were abolished in 1952, but the national origin caps were kept so as to, COMPLETELY coincidentally,* maintain the racist effect.
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* Yep. Still sarcasm.
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* Yep. Still sarcasm.
This is what Senator Pat McCarran said in support of the bill. It is hateful, vile rhetoric and it is hauntingly familiar to modern immigration debate.
You know, because it established the playbook for I'm-not-racist-I'm-just-concerned restrictionists who are just by COMPLETE coincidence* worried about nonwhites
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* I am not getting tired of flagging this as sarcasm.
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* I am not getting tired of flagging this as sarcasm.
OK. Let's talk about the modern visa system, which will come up shortly. In order to legally enter the United States as an alien you need a visa or to have a special status due to treaty. Visas are either "migrant" or "nonmigrant".
If you have a nonmigrant visa, you are affirmatively stating you want to go home at the end of your trip, and border agents are authorized to kick you out if they think you lack sufficient ties to home and are going to end up staying. This includes many work visas.
Migrant visas, on the other hand, are what allow you to immigrate to the United States to stay. For the vast majority of now extant people the only way you can become a citizen is through a family based visa, an employment based visa, or the diversity lottery.
Here's why I stressed all that. In 1965 we set up the basis for the modern system, which formally removed the racist (see above) national preference system but restricted visas by number and place of origin. Those same visas you need to get in.
There's probably some nuance I'm running over here with regards to the exact sequencing of each component of our modern system, but the big picture really is: a system of intended and formalized racism rebranded and improved at the margins.
We ended up with a huge immigration boom due to the 1965 act despite the worst intentions of the Act's authors, and it was a wild success for this country. It let my parents come here, serve Americans, become Americans, and make new Americans.
I wrote this at the end of 2015 and Americans chose to make the world worse for others. Let's do better please.
A personal coda. The blog post was adapted to a rant went on elsewhere and was seen by my ex girlfriends mother who I was then still friendly with. She reacted poorly to me saying that whether or not she was personally racist, the immigration system and restrictions are racist.
She somehow took this personally. And that's one of the tells that it wasn't a coincidence after all.
