Chapter 16-Immigration & Nativism in the 80s

Although we previously discussed the Immigration Reform Act of 1986 in class, I thought I’d add to a few things to that discussion. For starters, it’s interesting to note the apparent shift in thought on immigration (with a focus on illegal immigration) that surfaced during the 1980s. While anti-immigration mentalities can be tracked obviously way back before the 1980s, the strength of those notions seems to wax and wane with the times; coming in waves or spurts depending on what’s going on nationally. Yet, the whole we-need-to-protect-our-borders mentality seemed to reemerge in the eighties and has lasted persistently since then. Look at more recent occurrences in Arizona, for example. The fear that the United States will become “flooded” with people, with illegal immigrants especially, definitely lingers as do nativist attitudes. And the need for ‘verifying’ citizenship—again fears based on notions that immigrants steal jobs away from U.S. citizens along with opportunity.

Part of what greatly contributed to and reinforced the immigration fears was the resurgence of nativistic ideas. I grew up in the eighties, but since I was a kid, I don’t remember much about what was going with immigration at the time. But feelings of superiority were obviously present. The book talks about several of the nonprofit organizations that aimed at immigration reform. Under the guise of seemingly innocent good-intended ideas, it seems the true agenda of these groups was to reinforce nativist ideas while maximizing the perceived threat of immigration in this country.  So, their goals were the same as the nativists from the past (i.e. there is a desire to cling on to the hope of a white European nation), but conveyed in a more subdued manner. I find it disturbing that there were numerous groups, too; not just one. The fact that there were several main established groups like this really seems to show just how prevalent nativist ideas were. And continue to be.  

It’s important to note that much of this nativism was really targeted at the Hispanic population, whereas in the twenties, nativism was aimed more at specific religious groups—Jews and Catholics. It’s interesting how throughout this country’s history,  nativism (along with the topic of immigration) has taken varying twists and turns, phases where one group was deemed negatively at one time only later to have a different target group.  I find this both sad and embarrassing. It’s contradictory to what many believe are our principle foundations. We are supposed to be an inclusive type of nation, welcoming, while promoting freedom. But old notions persist, just with a different twist….

On a slightly different note, I was surprised to learn about the numbers of Irish immigrants who wanted to come to the country and/or to become citizens during the 1980s, but couldn’t due to the cutoff date for amnesty. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were those who would have liked to have seen amnesty available to the Irish population, particularly since over the years, fewer white European immigrants migrate to the U.S. or even desire to. The book touches on how this actually has contributed to the anti-immigrant sentiment..