The Politics of Immigration

Immigration has been a source of political discord since the beginning of our republic – despite the fact that we are a nation of immigrants. As early as the late 1700s, immigration was the subject of legislative action. The very first Congress passed The Naturalization Act of 1790 which read: “That any alien, being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen …” Congress subsequently extended the waiting period from two to five years in 1795, and to fourteen years in 1798.

The History and Technology Museum in Washington, DC displays a chart that outlines the long legislative history of limits placed on the immigration of various groups: convicts and prostitutes (1875); idiots, lunatics, and persons requiring public care (1882); Chinese (1882-1943); gangs of cheap contract laborers (1885); immigrants with dangerous contagious diseases, paupers, and polygamists (1891); epileptics, insane persons, beggars, and anarchists (1903); the feeble-minded, children under 16 unaccompanied by parents, and immigrants unable to support themselves because of physical or mental defects (1907); immigrants from most of Asia, and adults unable to read and write in English (1917). Legislation since that time set quotas for immigrants by nationality, required registration, and established preferences for certain groups of immigrants, such as those with relatives already here, and workers with skills needed in the US.

Flash forward to the discussion today and we see the results of more than two centuries of progress. Citizenship is no longer limited by race, sex, or creed. Today, naturalization and enforcement of our immigration laws are the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security. However, we again see states and localities attempting to assert jurisdiction over immigration. Although Federal government responsibility for immigration was established by the Supreme Court in 1875, the recent law enacted in Arizona would empower state and local law enforcement officials in Arizona to check the immigration documents of any person they suspect is in the country illegally.

One has to ask how this law could possibly be carried out without some sort of racial profiling. Opponents of the law will undoubtedly argue in federal court that the state law should be overturned consistent with the 1875 Supreme Court ruling. Law enforcement officials across the US seem split – some arguing that this new authority will make it easier to take criminals who are non-citizens into custody, even when they can’t prove that any other crime has been committed. Others seem to be focusing on the concern that investigative leads will dry up if members of immigrant communities are afraid to report crimes or provide information about the identities of suspects.

And we are not even hearing in recent days about the impacts of illegal immigration on our national and local economies. Are illegals a drain on federal, state, and local budgets? Do illegals take jobs from Americans, depress American wages, or are they an important supply of labor for local industries such as construction and farming? President Obama clearly had it right when he pointed out that state action like that which has taken place in Arizona is a natural consequence of the lack of federal leadership on this important national issue. National immigration reform needs to be mindful of state and local impacts. Real solutions are needed and the time for action is now.