ChxLtxintheU.S.Contemporaryissuesp1-1.pptxChicanx/Latinx in the U.S. Contemporary Issues p.1
ETHST 1
Dr. Frank Pérez
Lecture Layout
What we'll be covering
Chicanx/Latinx in the U.S.
Understanding the Chicanx/Latinx experience
Race Making Chicanx/Latinx
Evolving Racialization Chicanx/Latinx
Constructing Immigrant Others
Anti-Chicanx/Latinx Racism (Racist Nativism)
Latino Threat Narrative
Latinx/Chicanx Immigration
History of Immigration Laws
The Immigration issue
Key terms:
ideologue: an often blindly partisan advocate or adherent of a particular ideology.
Nationalism: Cultural ideology, associated symbols, and identity attached to one's country.
Nativism: Cultural ideology that subsumes the dominant group is the native-born population and that immigrants are not welcomed
Xenophobia: dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries.
Racist Nativism: A xenophobic belief that the domestic/dominant group are the indigenous inhabitants of a nation-state and that immigrant groups are a threat to the biological/cultural purity of the “native” group
Chicanx/Latinx in the U.S.
Chicanx/Latinx immigrants fail to feel included in the U.S. or home countries
Studies find that Latin American immigrants fail to find inclusiveness in either their host or home countries (regardless of citizenship)
We know this as the I’m neither here nor there paradigm
Studies also find that a majority of Chicanx/Latinx communities are connected to their home countries via phone calls home or sending remittances
63% of immigrants send money and phone home
$65.382 billion was sent back to Latin America and the Caribbean in 2014
Likewise Latin American immigrants pay huge amounts of various taxes to their host and home countries which subsidizes both governments and political leaders
Understanding the Chicanx/Latinx Experience
Race Making Chicanx/Latinx
Various understandings of Race and racial difference have been perpetuated by societal actors
Chicanx/Latinx have been historically cast as foreigners, backwards, and undeserving
Social (create understandings of racial difference centered on immigration)
Academics (education/theology)
Media (news/cinematic and tv/music/advertising)
Political (run their campaigns motivating voters around anti-immigrant fervor)
Campaigns
Politicians
Legal (politicians support laws and policies that (in)directly target immigrants)
Laws
Policies/Practices
Social
Political
Legal
Exp: Evolving Racialization of Chicanx/Latinx
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-citizen-detained-by-ice-francisco-erwin-galicia-border-officials-conditions-bad-almost-self-deported/
Constructing Immigrant Others
Human bodies are ascribed with characteristics of states that grant and deny humanity
Political/cultural wars are waged by ideologues who hope to frame their enemies as antithetical to their nation's harmony
ideologue: an often blindly partisan advocate or adherent of a particular ideology.
These ideologues then ascribe peoples within and outside of their nation with terms of belonging
Cuban refugees are welcomed in the U.S. and rejected in their home country as gusanos
Other Latin Americans from Mexico and Central/South America are expelled from the U.S. and face certain dangers in their home countries
Asian immigrants seen as both the yellow peril and the model minority
A body can be protected or face danger depending on political leaders’ stance on immigration, crime, war, and humanitarianism
Anti-Chicanx/Latinx Racism (Racist Nativism)
Anti-immigrant sentiments against Chicanx/Latinx communities stems from America's historic nationalism and xenophobia/racism
Nationalism: Cultural ideology, associated symbols, and identity attached to one's country.
Nativism: Cultural ideology that subsumes the dominant group is the native-born population and that immigrants are not welcomed
Xenophobia: dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries.
Racist Nativism: A xenophobic belief that the domestic/dominant group are the indigenous inhabitants of a nation-state and that immigrant groups are a threat to the biological/cultural purity of the “native” group
Racist Nativism and Latino Threat Narrative
Much of this anti-Mexican/Latino stems from the immigrant threat narrative
What are some of the fundamental tenets of The Latino Threat?
Inassimilable: don't want to learn the language
High fertility
This is based of an old study that compared birth ready aged Mexican migrants to all white American women, a little skewed?
A desire to reconquer (ie reconquista) the land and/or secede from the union
Would the U.S. ever willing give up California?
Who creates and perpetuates this discourse?
Latinx/Chicanx Immigration
We must understand that migrant labor has always been crucial in sustaining empires
People from all over the have been directly indirectly forced to leave their homes and enslaved to sustain (neo)colonial Nation-States
Early on in 1924 and 1965 (times when key immigration legislation were passed), key political figures made arguments that agriculture always needed migrant labor
Food is not cheap (when assigned a cost) and peoples of the empire always want to eat for less
Consider this you’ll pay thousands of dollars for a TV/computer but want a dollar menu at McDonalds (CEO at Apple gets rich while farm workers starve)
History of Immigration Laws
History of immigration laws:
Naturalization Act 1790
First law for citizenship: live two years in the U.S. and 1 year in a particular state
Steerage act/Manifest of Immigrants Act 1819
(1) established the continuing reporting of immigration to the United States; and (2) set specific sustenance rules for passengers of ships leaving U.S. ports for Europe.
Act to Encourage Immigration 1864
Legalized formal indenture servitude and gave way to the coolie labor system at the end of chattel slavery. Also, meant to encourage European migration.
Page Act 1874
First law to classify coolie Asian laborers, Asian women who engaged in prostitution, and migrant who are convicts in their home countries as “undesirable” and ban their immigration
Chinese Exclusion Act/Immigration Act 1882
Laws to ban Chinese laborers, collect head tax on immigrants, and expands undesirable category to include “any convict, lunatic, idiot, or any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge”
Alien Contract Labor Law/Foran Act 1885
Ends all coolie labor contracts and limits the amounts of imported foreign laborers
Immigration Act 1891
Formally defines which individuals are unfit to be citizens: idiots, insane persons, paupers, convicts (felons/misdemeanors), those carrying contagious diseases, those that would become wards of the state, and those who don’t follow U.S. cultural values. Bureau of Immigration established under treasury department
Anarchist Exclusion Act 1903/1918
Expands the exclusionary provisions of previous acts by denying citizenship to: epileptics, beggars, and importers of prostitutes
Naturalization Act 1906
Mandates that all immigrants learn English to get naturalized
Immigration Act 1907
Further limited Asian immigration, excluded Muslims, and expanded the definition of undesirable women who cannot emigrate/naturalize. It authorized the formation of the Dillingham Commission to collect immigration data for future policies
Literacy/Asiatic Barred Zone Act 1917
Imposed literacy as a requirement for naturalization, excluded people from most of the Asia-Pacific region (except Japan/Philippines), while expanding the undesirable category to deal more with specific degrees of mental illness/immorality
Johnson-Reed Act 1924
First immigrant quota system providing a limited number of visas/citizenships. Privileged European migration, Mexican temporary migration solely for labor purposes, and excluded all Asian immigration
Bracero Program 1943
Formal agreement with various Latin Americans/Latin American Countries to import laborers to help with WWII agricultural labor
War Brides Act 1946
allow alien spouses, natural children, and adopted children of members of the United States Armed Forces to emigrate and naturalize
History of Immigration Laws
History (cont)
Immigration and Nationality Act 1952
reaffirmed the national origins quota system, limited immigration from the Eastern Hemisphere while leaving the Western Hemisphere unrestricted, established preferences for skilled workers and relatives of U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens; and tightened security and screening standards and procedures
Immigration and Nationality Act 1965
abolished the national origins quota system but still maintained was the principle of numerical restriction by establishing 170,000 Hemispheric and 20,000 per country ceilings and a seven-category preference system (favoring close relatives of U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens, those with needed occupational skills, and refugees) for the Eastern Hemisphere and a separate 120,000 ceiling for the Western Hemisphere
Cuban Adjustment Act 1969
Allowed any Cuban ready to leave Castro’s Cuba to have residence and assistance to assimilate, unlike any other citizen in the United States
1980 Refugee Act
Established preferential naturalization for those fleeing communist countries
Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) 1986
It (1) legalized aliens who had resided in the United States in an unlawful status since January 1, 1982, (2) established sanctions prohibiting employers from hiring, recruiting, or referring for a fee aliens known to be unauthorized to work in the United States, (3) created a new classification of temporary agricultural worker and provided for the legalization of certain such workers; and (4) established a visa waiver pilot program allowing the admission of certain nonimmigrants without visas.
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996
This act states that immigrants unlawfully present in the United States for 180 days but less than 365 days must remain outside the United States for three years unless they obtain a pardon. If they are in the United States for 365 days or more, they must stay outside the United States for ten years unless they obtain a waiver. If they return to the United States without the pardon, they may not apply for a waiver for a period of ten years.
Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA)/Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act (HRIFA) 1998/2000
Central Americans receive green cards and Haitians receive amnesty
The Immigration Issue
So what have political leaders been doing for the past 30yrs around immigration law?
Some contend for amnesty while others want to close of the border
Nixon, Carter, Reagan, and Bush all advocated for amnesty for current undocumented populations
Amnesty has been used in the past and we’ve had targeted immigration programs for high and low skilled labor that work to help bolster the economy
The Immigration Issue
Solving issues related to immigration/human rights are easy but also complex to solve
It is easy to understand that all people fundamentally deserve access to:
Food
Water
Housing/shelter
Education
Work
Protection from political/police/labor discrimination and violence
Du process
Fair representation in government
Granting access to these is complex because transnational corporations and governments that support them need to deny people these rights
Money dictates this and poorer people cannot fight large corporations that can battle from a countries all over the world with innumerable amounts of money
Poor people of color are the primarily underpaid when making many of the products we consume
Immigration
In 2006 congress openly discussed the possibility of deporting 12 million undocumented workers
This came at time of various national insecurities
Huge economic recession (caused primarily by Reaganomics)
Growing wars on Terrorism and Drugs (which we have only exponentially exacerbated)
The significant presences of militant migrant activist demanding access to education and better working conditions
These issues had affected peoples in the U.S. and others countries
Politicians needed to discuss immigration in an enigmatic way to (not)address the issue
What do you think would be the consequence of deporting all unauthorized immigrants today?
Lecture Layout
What we covered
Chicanx/Latinx in the U.S.
Understanding the Chicanx/Latinx experience
Race Making Chicanx/Latinx
Evolving Racialization Chicanx/Latinx
Constructing Immigrant Others
Anti-Chicanx/Latinx Racism (Racist Nativism)
Latino Threat Narrative
Latinx/Chicanx Immigration
History of Immigration Laws
The Immigration issue
Key terms:
Ideologue
Nationalism
Nativism
Xenophobia
Racist Nativism
