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Why are we wasting hundreds of millions of dollars building concentration camps? Why are we not helping undocumented workers get visas to continue working? Why are we not working to make immigration easier?
When my grandparents came here from Italy around 1910, all they had to do was come.
Restrictive immigration laws were passed in the 1920s due to nativism, economic concerns and fears of radicalism following WWI. These laws aimed to limit immigration and favor those from northern and western Europe.
A anti-immigrant sentiment, known as nativism, prevalent in the 1920s, was fueled by a desire to preserve the existing ethnic and cultural makeup of the United States, which was largely composed of people with roots in northern and western Europe.
There were anxieties about job competition and lower wages due to the influx of immigrants.
The aftermath of WWI and the Russian Revolution led to widespread fears of radical ideologies like communism and anarchism.
The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and The Immigration Act of 1924, also known as the Johnson-Reed Act, established national origins quotas, reducing immigration and favoring immigrants from northern and western Europe. The 1924 Act also restricted immigration from Asia and solidified the national origins quota system.
Immigration laws of the 1920s were influenced by eugenics, a theory that promoted the idea of improving the human race through selective breeding. This led to discriminatory policies that favored certain racial and ethnic groups.
Our immigration laws are based on racism. We need to change that.
Richard C. Parker
Duncansville