The Chinese Exclusion Act May Be in the Past, But Racism Still Drives Most Immigration Policies

Systemic racism is embedded in the U.S. immigration laws.  For a brief description, see here.  This issue was considered this week by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Isabela Dias in Mother Jones reminds us of the racist history of the U.S. immigration laws, beginning with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882:  

“It wasn’t until the mid-to-late-20th century that the United States and other receiving countries stripped their openly racist immigration laws from the books. In their place, these nations implemented what Andrew S. Rosenberg, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Florida, who studies race in international politics, calls a nominally `color-blind’ system. In his new book, Undesirable Immigrants: Why Racism Persists in International Migration, Rosenberg explains how racial bias hides in plain sight in immigration policies and practices worldwide. He traces the origins of racist immigration policies that most often affect nonwhite migrants to the creation of nation-states, colonialism, and the expansion of global capitalism.”

The article includes Dias’ interview with Rosenberg.

KJ