Anyone following U.S. immigration news understands the importance of knowing the correct terms when discussing immigration issues. The world “illegal” has been used for decades when describing a person who is residing in the United States without proper governmental authorization.
As the debate on immigration progresses, the term “illegal immigrant” is being used less and has been deemed not only grammatically incorrect (a human can’t be “illegal” only their actions can be) but also offensive. Pro-immigrant organizations have lobbied media outlets and public figures to “Drop the I-Word” and use the term “undocumented” or “unauthorized” to describe an immigrant with unlawful status.
Conduct Twitter keyword search on “illegal immigrant” and you’ll discover it’s almost impossible to avoid discriminatory comments. Review the comments section of any non-partisan news article on immigration and you’ll read extreme examples of misguided, misinformed, and malicious statements about “illegal immigrants” and how they’re “ruining this country.” Anonymous, hateful speech exists in almost every political or social discussion thread online, but the negative emotions sparked by the concept of “illegal immigrants” are remarkable.
To educate the public on where this fear and distrust originated, it’s helpful to understand how the notion of “illegal immigration” began.
1800s: A Nation of Undocumented Immigrants
Early 1800s
In the early 1800s, the United States had no federal laws imparting restrictions on immigration. In fact, the country’s population grew during its first century through an influx of western European settlers and Africans who were forced into the U.S. through the slave trade. It became universally known that immigration benefited the economy, as an expanding and prosperous U.S. maintained a steady demand for laborers. Unless the government had proof stating someone was a major criminal, anyone was free to enter the U.S. without inquiry or intervention from federal authorities.
Mid-1800s
Immigration restrictions were first requested in the mid-1800s in response to a wave of Irish and German settlers. Their Roman Catholicism practices, willingness to keep their native language, and low economic and literacy statuses caused some citizens to rally against their differences.
Late 1800s
By 1882, the first federal law restricting immigration based on origin country was in place, The Chinese Exclusion Act. The Chinese were one of the earliest non-European groups to immigrate at will to the U.S. in large numbers, and were ultimately the first group to experience government-sanctioned discrimination. Since the law didn’t coincide with U.S. economic trends, the demand for Chinese labor didn’t lessen and they continued to immigrate on a smaller scale. This began the first historical accounts of unlawful immigration, and created an “underclass” of immigrants that were forced evade the law. Before the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed, the group accounted for up to 3% of annual U.S. immigration. But the act wasn’t repealed until 1943. Ultimately, the regulation created a precedent for further immigration legislation targeting ethnic groups.
1900s: Quotas and Deportations
1900-1920
At the turn of the century, immigration regulations shifted focus to include Japanese laborers. The Quota Act was passed in the early 1900s, which placed immigration restrictions based on countries. At the same time immigration was expanding rapidly and nearly 13% of the U.S. population was foreign-born by 1920.
1920-1950
Since the 1920s, Mexican immigrants have been the foundation of the agricultural industry. In 1942, an initiative called the Bracero Program brought millions of laborers to the country during a farm worker shortage caused by World War II.
1950-1965
The Bracero Program boosted the U.S.’s agriculture profits, but failed to stop the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) from deporting millions of both documented and undocumented Mexican immigrants from 1954 to 1964 during Operation Wetback—yes, that’s what they called it!
1965-2000
Another major piece of immigration legislation, the Immigrant and Nationality Act of 1965, removed country of origin restrictions in the Quota Act and turned the immigration focus on work skills and family reunification. The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), passed in 1986, granted 4 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. a path to citizenship.
21st Century: The Choice to Move Backward or Forward
2000-2010
History has revealed that U.S. immigration laws tend to be fueled by reactions to current events and xenophobic prejudices. Events in early 2000s (such as the attack on New York’s World Trade Center) have shifted immigration concerns to terrorism and rising unemployment rates.
2010-Present
Throughout U.S. history, what benefited economic growth and innovation came second in order to pacify some voters’ immigration fears and ignorance. Recently Arizona, previously a part of Mexico until 1848, controversially passed a law targeting Latinos that required legal immigrants to carry documentation proving their lawful status at all times. Additionally, police officers were instructed to question those “reasonably suspect of being undocumented.”
In 2013, the U.S. Senate passed an immigration reform bill that would create a path to citizenship for the country’s undocumented immigrants. However, there hasn’t been any progress since then, as the legislation is tied up in the House.
While those who oppose immigration reform say they insist race and country of origin don’t play into their anti-immigration ideologies, history paints a different picture. Throughout time the names and faces of those involved have changed, yet the overarching story stays the same. The problems are the laws, not the people infringing on the law. Instead of treating undocumented immigrants like commonplace lawbreakers that deserve no rights, the laws need to be changed to create a more accepting and economically stable country.