CommentsBCK FILE--Immigration and fear of “the other” have been hallmarks of Trump’s 2016 campaign and presidency. His political brand is deeply rooted in fear and intolerance. He has referred to Mexican immigrants as “rapists, criminals, and drug dealers,” to African countries with a terribly pejorative term. One of his first acts as president was to sign an executive order to ban Muslim travelers from the U.S.
So, it’s no surprise that Fox & Friends splashed an erroneous chyron across its screen on Sunday. “Trump Cuts U.S. Aid to 3 Mexican Countries.”
The chyron appeared on the screen as three Fox hosts discussed Trump’s announcement on Saturday that he’d be cutting U.S. funding to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. “We are paying them tremendous amounts of money, and we’re not paying them anymore because they haven’t done a thing for us.”
Fox & Friends co-host Ed Henry issued an apology for the gaffe, “We want to clarify and correct something that happened earlier in the show. We had an inaccurate graphic on screen while talking about this very story. We just want to be clear the funding is being cut from three Central American countries. We apologize for the error -- it never should have happened.”
The mistake could possibly have been the fault of a geographically ignorant intern or more likely, part of the network’s M.O to throw gas on the flames of Trump’s anti-immigration policies. Trump is a master at figuring out how to use words to ignite his supporters into a frenzy. Fox backs him up with a one-two punch.
Mexico has become a trigger and lumping all Spanish-speaking countries together is a useful tool to incite xenophobes.
Xenophobia isn’t exactly novel to the United States. Our history is peppered with policies to turn away anyone who isn’t a white northern European. An 1882 law known as the Chinese Exclusion Act blocked the Chinese from entering the United States. This act, passed by Congress and signed into law by Chester A. Arthur, was the first such significant law restricting immigration. At the time of its passage, Chinese immigrants made up less than .002% of the population. However, many on the west coast blamed economic problems on the Chinese.
The Chinese Exclusion Act halted Chinese immigration for a decade. Chinese immigrants were banned from becoming citizens. The act was extended an additional ten years and by 1902, immigration from China was made permanently illegal.
The Immigration Act of 1924, also known as the Johnson-Reed Act, was passed to halt immigration from Asia and to place a quota of 165,000 for countries in the Western Hemisphere, an 80% reduction from pre-World War I figures. The quotas were based on 2% of the immigrant population from those countries in 1890. The purpose of the act was to “preserve the ideal of U.S. homogeneity.” The groups targeted included immigrants from Italy, Jews, Greeks, Poles, and other Eastern Europeans.
The American public did not support immigration during the years leading up and including the Holocaust. Following World War I, public opinion and restrictive immigration laws reflected increasing xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and racism, in part due to the economic challenges, including the Depression. By the time Hitler was coming to power, the United States still had no refugee policy. Jews and others who were attempting to flee from the Third Reich were restricted by the quota policies. From 1933-1941, hundreds of thousands had applied to immigrate to the U.S. but were denied.
Following World War II, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (McCarran-Walter Act) removed the restriction on Asian immigration and made some changes to the quota system. The act gave the president powers to institute an immigration ban for security purposes. The act was passed during the Cold War.
“Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.”
One of the bill’s sponsors, Sen. McCarran argued that the bill was necessary to preserve national security. “I take no issue with those who would praise the contributions which have been made to our society by people of many races, of varied creeds, and colors. However, we have in the United States today hard-core, indigestible blocs which have not become integrated into the American way of life, but which on the contrary, are its deadly enemies. Today, as never before, untold millions are storming our gates for admission, and those gates are cracking under the strain.”
A decade later, the Hart-Celler Act of 1965 had done away with the national origin quota system that had been the core of U.S. immigration policy since 1924, which had favored northern Europeans. The bill established a policy that was intended to reunite families and attract skilled labor to the U.S.
Throughout history, xenophobic immigration policy wasn’t the provenance of one party over another. Both Republican and Democrat politicians were behind these policies. Historically, the immigration restrictions of the past have not been our proudest moments as a nation. Once again, xenophobia rears its ugly head. It’s not easy being a xenophobe.
(Beth Cone Kramer is a professional writer living in the Los Angeles area. She covers Resistance Watch and other major issues for CityWatch.)
-cw
