Cycles of Fear in USA Immigration

Cycles of Fear in USA Immigration

America is a land of immigrants. Every day, the news is filled with strong opinions on whether immigrants help or hurt America. Current opinions are strongest when it comes to illegal immigration. People fear that immigration has become a terminal disease in this country. The real question is how fear is used to change American immigration policy. Nick Sousanis, in his book Unflattening, encourages a multi-view perspective is what guides the government to make immigration policy decisions. Looking from multiple viewpoints of immigration fear, we see that changes to American immigration policy are a vicious cycle. Fear is the primary reason for these changes. Some of this fear was based on country of origin, some on religion, some on race, and some on ethnicity. Today, fear is also the driving force behind changes to current immigration policy, especially regarding immigrants from Latin America and Muslims.

Patricia Smith provides an excellent view of America’s fear of immigration throughout American history in her article “The Great Immigration Debate.” Smith states that even during colonial America, fear affected peoples’ attitudes toward immigration and caused changes to immigration law. Smith discusses immigration issues over the past 450 years; the famous Benjamin Franklin feared that too many German immigrants might take over his beloved colony of Pennsylvania. Smith said Franklin called them “a colony of aliens who will never adopt our language and customs.” In the early 1800s, the American Party, also called the No-Nothings, feared immigration would lead to the loss of American jobs. This is an argument we hear in the news today. Most immigrants in the 1840s were Catholic, and since America at that time was mostly Protestant, Americans feared Catholics taking over the country. In 1872, in response to American fear of immigrants, Congress passed a law stopping all Chinese immigration. In the 1920s, Congress passed another immigration law banning immigration from southern and eastern Europe. Smith says this law prevented the U.S. from helping Jews, who were mostly from eastern Europe, escape the Nazis. More recently Smith quotes President Trump talking about illegal immigrants: “We will find you, we will arrest you, we will jail you, and we will deport you.” Smith shows that America has always feared immigration when Americans felt threatened by different immigrant groups.

Haley Edward, in her article “Bye Dad, I love you,” discusses how the ICE police caught a law-abiding illegal immigrant who has been in America for over ten years. Edward suggests immigrant families and their children are afraid of the new U.S. immigration policies. This article also references many research reports about the fear immigrant families experience every day. In her, article Edward argues that ICE has no sympathy for illegal immigrants.  Edwards quotes Thomas Homan, acting director of ICE, who says that “There’s no population that’s off the table. If you are in the country illegally, we’re looking for you” (Edward, P36). Mark Krikorian, Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies, said “Quite frankly, illegal immigrants are supposed to be afraid of detection. They’re illegal; they’re breaking the law, why shouldn’t they live in the shadows” (Edward, P36). This is the fear that illegal immigrants now feel in this politically charged mood. But has it always been this way? Previous presidents, such as Barack Obama and George H.W. Bush told ICE to use “prosecutorial discretion” (Edward, P38). This allowed ICE to focus its limited resources on drug offenders and violent criminals.  Edwards says that under past presidents, illegal immigrants who had become good members of their community had little to fear, as long as they obeyed the law. Now, they remain in the shadows, and many are withdrawing from benefits programs for fear of ICE.  Schools created new rules for obtaining parent and guardian information in the event the parents are deported, and the schools need to know who is responsible for the children. Fear is changing how all immigrants act but especially illegal immigrants. Many illegals without any criminal record will not leave their home until night for fear of the ICE police. And children live in constant fear of losing their parents. Many of these children have psychological problems like PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Edward’s research said many younger children are being raised by older siblings or other issues because their parents were caught and deported. When people hide, they do not help society, and that causes Americans to fear immigrants. Edward’s article shows how current immigration policy is increasing fear of immigrants and Americans.

Sousanis wants us to think about difficult problems by looking at different points of view. Both Edwards and Smith, all describe how American fears of immigrants caused changes to immigration policy with strong examples. Together they show a cycle of fear. While America is a land of immigrants, America also has shown a deep-down fear of immigrants, seeking to restrict immigration and maintaining the status quo. Throughout its history, American fear of immigrants caused changes to American immigration law: fear of Germans in 1751, of Catholics and Chinese in the 1800s, and of southern and eastern Europeans in the 1920s. Today, it is the fear of Latin Americans and Muslims. And as each group is feared, they begin to fear America, hiding and limiting their contributions to Society, which justifies the fear of Americans.

History has shown the atmosphere of fear of immigrants is nothing new to America. Both articles show that fear continues to be the primary reason for the vicious cycle of changing immigration policy.  Those fears will cause any future immigration law change. As an immigrant myself, I think America’s immigration policy should use logic and good ideas to find what’s best for America’s future. While some politicians and social organizations are trying to encourage a more logical and reasoned approach to immigration policy, their voices are hard to hear over the loud noise of fear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Edwards, Haley Sweetland. "Bye Dad, I Love You. (Cover Story)." Time, vol. 191, no. 11, 19 Mar. 2018, p. 34. EBSCOhost, ihcproxy.mnpals.net/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=128357004&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Smith, Patricia. "The Great Immigration Debate." Junior Scholastic, vol. 120, no. 9, 19 Feb. 2018, p. 10. EBSCOhost, ihcproxy.mnpals.net/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=128112186&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

                  Sousanis, Nick. Unflattening. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015.