Critical Analysis #11 - Isabelle Wong

 People immigrate for a multitude of different reasons. The L19 class slides separates the reasons into “push” or “pull” factors. Some examples that the class lists as push factors are economic instability, political instability, war, violence, and enviornmental hazards. Some examples of pull factors are opportunities for higher education, healthcare, political freedoms, religious freedoms, family reunification, and access to better economic opportunities. 

I know in my own family, my parents immigrated (separately) as young adults for the opportunity of a higher education, especially what the “American Dream” could provide for them. My dad came from a low SES family, and his parents were not educated. He saved up money working in high school and then picked a “cheap” college in the US, to where he was able to get a Bachelor’s Degree, and then later a Ph.D. in chemistry. He is the first and only person in his family to have one, which was a huge accomplishment for their family. 

Nativism is the belief that “native-born citizens are superior to immigrants” and it leads to people leading to having preferences for allocating resources to them, and it fosters fear or distrust of foreign cultures (Golash-Boza, 2022). Nativism is related to immigration and racism because it has impacted immigration policies and how society has treated people from different racial groups and ethnic groups. The fear of foreigners is often a racial attitude that is negative towards people of specific ethnic groups. When people think that they are superior to a different racial group because of their own race, that causes racial bias and the in-group/out-group mentality. A country that believes whites are superior to non-whites may refuse immigration to non-white people seeking to immigrate to that country. 

Some events that have illustrated the link between nativism and racist immigation policies are the past racially exclusionary acts that the United States has had towards people of color. One examples of this is the Chinese Exclusionary Act of 1882, which I learned about during my time on the speech and debate team in high school. This law restricted the entrance of Chinese laborers into the United States, and it lasted from 1882 to 1943, which was sixty-one years! This act allowed for there to a federal establishment of allowing the US government to check an individual’s home country, which set into stone a lot of other new laws that went into effect later. Another example was the National Origins Act in 1924, which wanted to reduce immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, in order to maintain the “dominant racial hierarchy” of white Americans at this time. This limited immigration for Jewish, Italian, and Polish people. 

Nativism and immigration policies affect individuals and families because it prevents individuals from coming to certain countries when bias and prejudice are present. Families could be affected if they are not allowed to immigrate to a different country because of what is happening in their home country. They could be seeking refuge from violence, or seeking religious freedom, but if that country is biased against them, they could be turned away. It also affects individuals because they might be prevented from immigrating to that country.