{"id":1643,"date":"2017-10-27T08:00:51","date_gmt":"2017-10-27T13:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=1643"},"modified":"2017-10-25T21:17:38","modified_gmt":"2017-10-26T02:17:38","slug":"whiteness-in-american-immigration-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2017\/10\/27\/whiteness-in-american-immigration-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWhiteness\u201d in American Immigration Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Photo by Harold Navarro, Flickr CC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Immigration is a hot-button issue in American politics today. President Trump\u2019s proposed border wall, rescinding of DACA, travel bans for multiple majority-Muslim countries, and increased detention and deportation have meant that the debate has focused almost exclusively on Hispanics and Muslims. This is the latest in a long history of misgivings towards immigrants that has obvious racial dimensions. It\u2019s easy to forget that much anti-immigrant rhetoric is based on American attitudes about who is <\/span>white, <\/span><\/i>or who has the potential to become white. Social science research reminds us how certain groups who were once cast as racial outsiders eventually came to be seen as \u201cwhite,\u201d while others have been consistently denied white status and the full citizenship that comes with it. <\/span><\/p>\n

The meaning of \u201cwhite\u201d has changed through the course of American history. From the 19<\/span>th<\/span> century into the early 20<\/span>th<\/span> century, \u201cwhite\u201d only incorporated Anglo-Saxon, Protestant Americans. American voters and policymakers were concerned that \u201cnon-white\u201d immigrant groups such as the Irish, Poles, Jews, and Italians lacked the ability to assimilate into American society. Gradually, however, these immigrants became incorporated into the dominant racial category and were thus no longer considered outsiders. <\/span><\/h5>\n