Those Horrible Illegal Immigrants
“Americans must rule America”
“The danger lies in the quality of immigration”
This all sounds pretty familiar doesn’t it. The immigration problem is really heating up in America isn’t it.
Except …
None of these quotes are current. They all come from the 19th century, from before what many Americans point to as the golden-age of America.
And here’s another one.
Yup. Anti-immigrant fearmongering, whether directed at Mexicans, Jews, the Irish, or anyone else, has been a reliable way to win votes for nearly two centuries.
So, let’s take a look at how it works.
Hispanics have always been a target for this sort of anti-immigrant sentiment. In the 19th century, they were called “greasers”.
"The greasers are all thieves."
"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists.”
Times change, but attitudes don’t always change with them.
“See? Mexican immigration has always been a problem!”
Well, hold on there. Remember a good swath of the American Southwest was part of Mexico until the United States seized it. Many of the “Mexicans” living in the American southwest today are descended from families whose history dates back to a time before California, or Arizona … or New Mexico, were part of America. Oftentimes, they aren’t the immigrants.
Of course, anti-immigrant sentiment has never been a purely Hispanic issue.
“No Irish need Apply”
"The Celtic race, represented in this country by the Irish, is naturally turbulent and disorderly."
Yup, there was a time when anti-immigrant wrath was directed against the Irish people.
"The good of the country requires that they should be kept out."
"The Roman Catholic religion is incompatible with our free institutions."
Where do these quotes come from?
They come from a document called “Foreign Conspiracy against the Liberties of the United States”. This document was written in 1835, by a man called Samuel Morse. Anti-immigrant conspiracy theories have been alive and well in America from its very beginning.
Then, of course, there was the saga of the M.S. St. Louis.
For those of you who are not familiar with it, the M.S. St. Louis was a merchant ship. A group of Jewish refugees attempting to escape Nazi tyranny bought passage aboard this ship looking to find refuge in North America.
This story isn’t a uniquely American story. The ship was first turned away from Havana. It then travelled north along the Atlantic coast looking for a port in the United States or Canada that would allow it to enter and disembark its passengers.
None was found.
And why was none found?
"They should wait their turn under the immigration quotas."
Yup, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Refugee families fleeing persecution—and, in many cases, death—were turned away by fear and prejudice.
It’s a familiar tune even today.
The ship was forced to return to Antwerp, Belgium. Some of its passengers found refuge in Britain, but the vast majority were required to stay in Western Europe, countries that would soon be overrun by the Nazis. Roughly 1/3 of them were eventually rounded up and murdered by the Nazis.
Of course, Jews and Irish and Hispanics haven’t been the only victims of this sort of exceptionalist prejudice. Not by a long shot.
There was a time when Italian immigrants or Polish immigrants, or South Asian immigrants were viewed in much the same light. German and Slavic immigrants have also been viewed with suspicion.
There is nothing new in any of this. Even the claims about violence and criminality are nothing new. They've always been there, with every targeted immigrant group. And there's rarely, if ever been any evidence to backup those claims.
Texas Department of Public Safety data from 2012-2023 showed:
- U.S.-born citizens were more than twice as likely as undocumented immigrants to be arrested for violent felony offenses.
- U.S.-born citizens were about 2.5 times as likely to be arrested for drug crimes.
- U.S.-born citizens were more than 4 times as likely to be arrested for property crimes.
- Legal immigrants generally had the lowest arrest rates across these categories.
Other studies, in other western countries have tended to show the same patterm. Native born citizens, tend to commit violent offenses at higher rates than immigrants, both legal and illegal.
This is what the evidence generally shows. But the hysterical shouts often scream otherwise.
And this is what the prejudice of exceptionalism looks like.
“We are the greatest. We are better in every respect and yet, we are so fragile that we must always defend ourselves against this invasion."
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