History Book: A nation of immigrants and laws

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Monday, May 15th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Up next, the WORLD History Book. With the ending of Title 42 last week, immigration and border enforcement is once again in the spotlight. But policies from over a century of immigration law play a part in what’s currently happening at the Southern Border. Here’s WORLD’s Paul Butler with an historical survey.

EDUCATIONAL FILM: The story of America is mainly a story of people who came here from other lands.

PAUL BUTLER, REPORTER: America’s immigration story is perhaps one of the more recent in world history, but the movement of people from one country to another is almost as old as the earth itself. Every nation at one point began with one group of people arriving on its shores. Who eventually had to create policies of how to welcome—or at times prevent others—who wanted to enter.

Soon after the founding of the United States of America, the federal government passed the Naturalization Act of 1790. It laid out the rules for citizenship, as directed by the Constitution. But it placed no meaningful restrictions on immigration.

Then, starting in the early 19th century, waves of immigrants began arriving from Europe:

FILM: Because of poverty and famine, many Irishmen left their land. Attracted by the hopeful opportunities in America.

Large numbers of German and Scandinavian immigrants soon followed. As more and more immigrants arrived, the federal government passed laws regulating who could come into the country.

Congress enacted its first comprehensive immigration bill in 1891. The act created a government agency to regulate immigration—empowering it to enforce immigration laws and to deport unlawful aliens.

FILM: At the immigrant station on Ellis Island, they were examined and questioned: Any criminal record? Any communicable diseases? Any physical disabilities?

The Immigration Act of 1891 also set forth detailed guidelines for who could be turned away: including those likely to become “public charges.”

Three decades later, the U.S. government created border patrol in the Immigration Act of 1924. It also imposed numerical limits on immigration for the first time—severely restricting immigration from Asia and other non-European countries.

FILM: Quotas were established for different countries allowing only a specified number of immigrants to enter each year.

Many supporters of the act expressed concern over the changing demographics and national values after decades of immigration.

Now during the Cold War, Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. This act emphasized “good moral character”—a standard dating back to the Naturalization Act of 1790. It required applicants to be favorably disposed to the U.S. and persons of good character. Those who weren’t could be turned away or deported.

Then in 1965 Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Services Act. President Lyndon Johnson believed it corrected a grave injustice enshrined four decades earlier:

LYNDON JOHNSON: Those who can contribute most to this country to its growth, to its strength, to its spirit will be the first that are admitted to this land.

The 1965 act eliminated national-origin quotas—opening pathways for immigrants from Asia and other countries who had previously been restricted.

Political unrest and war in the 1970s led to a peak in immigrants fleeing Asia. The 1980 Refugee Act made it easier to enter the country as refugees…though the legislation capped the number to 50,000 per year.

Moving to the 1980s, high unemployment in Mexico led to increased pressures at the southern border…politicians like Ronald Reagan campaigned on immigration reform in light of those challenges. During his second term, congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986:

RONALD REAGAN: Our objective is only to establish a reasonable, fair, orderly and secure system of immigration into this country and not to discriminate in any way against particular nations or people.

This act levied sanctions for knowingly hiring illegal aliens. It increased border enforcement, created a new category of visa for seasonal agricultural workers, and provided amnesty to illegal aliens already in the country.

Four years later, George H. W. Bush signed the Immigration Act of 1990—nearly tripling the number of visas for immigrants with US job offers. The bill also created a lottery program that opened up immigration for those from so-called “low admittance” or under-represented countries.

During Bill Clinton’s presidency, he signed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. It required stronger verification records, increased border enforcement, and it restricted welfare benefits for non-citizens.

BILL CLINTON: It is wrong and ultimately self-defeating for a nation of immigrants to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws we have seen in recent years and we must do more to stop it.

Under George W. Bush, a catalog of targeted immigration laws crossed his desk after the September 11th terrorist attacks. More attention was given to physically preventing immigrants from crossing at unauthorized locations.

GEORGE BUSH: The system is broken because there are people who are exploiting human beings for personal gain.

The Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 increased the number of Border Patrol agents. It mandated that schools keep a database of non-citizen students and required foreign nationals to carry biometric identification.

As more and more illegal immigrants found ways across the border, political debate heated up.

BARACK OBAMA: Even as we are a nation of immigrants, we're also a nation of laws, undocumented workers broke our immigration laws.

During Barack Obama’s two terms in the White House, immigration reform stalled out in congress. So Obama took executive action, including the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA program.

BARACK OBAMA: To make it more, fair, more efficient and more just specifically for certain young people, sometimes called dreamers.

President Donald Trump turned to executive orders as well to address the crisis at the Southern border while the government attempted to bring illegal immigration under control. In 2017 he limited asylum claims, called for border wall enhancements, and greatly reduced the number of immigrants allowed into the country.

DONALD TRUMP: Everyday customs and border patrol agents encounter thousands of illegal immigrants trying to enter our country.

In his first year as President, Joe Biden issued nearly 300 executive actions on immigration—many of them reversing the previous administration’s executive orders.

A couple weeks ago Biden announced new measures to address unlawful migration. But just last week, the number of people caught crossing the Southern Border illegally topped 10,000 per day with processing facilities greatly exceeding their capacity. Statistics like those from U.S. Customs and Border Protection indicate that it is going to take more than executive orders to fix the problem. It’s up to congress.

JOE BIDEN: For more than 30 years. Politicians have talked about immigration reform, and we've done nothing about it. It's time to fix it.

That’s this week’s WORLD History Book, I’m Paul Butler.

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