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100 years of immigration policies working to keep out immigrants

Putting the immigration "crisis" in historical perspective
Jackie Lay
Putting the immigration "crisis" in historical perspective

President Biden just issued an executive order that allows him to temporarily shut down the U.S.-Mexico border to asylum seekers once a daily threshold of crossings is exceeded. The order comes months after the failure of yet another border security deal, the most recent attempt to overhaul an immigration system that hasn't seen comprehensive reform since 1990.

All the while, we hear the same thing from politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike, "We gotta do something about immigration! We gotta do something about immigration!" But we've been trying to "do something" about immigration for over a hundred years, often times leading to distressing experiences for the people who interact with our immigration system.

So, this week we're looking back at that history, starting with a notorious law that would forever entangle immigration and racism — the Immigration Act of 1924. The law was born out of a panic about an influx of what were considered non-white immigrants at the time. The quotas it established were endorsed by the KKK and later praised by Hitler.

On the hundredth anniversary of the law, we talk to immigration correspondent Jasmine Garsd, about the law's legacy, and how the rhetoric that birthed it continues to echo today in places like Texas and Florida.

And Jonathan Blitzer, author of the recent Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here, explains how the political panic surrounding what many are calling an immigration crisis, isn't new. And in fact, it's a problem of our own creation.

Copyright 2024 NPR

B.A. Parker
[Copyright 2024 NPR]
Xavier Lopez
Xavier Lopez is a producer for Code Switch. He came to NPR from CNN Audio, where he helped produce shows such as Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and the inaugural season of Tug of War. Prior to that, Lopez worked at NPR member station WHYY in Philadelphia, where he worked on shows such as The Pulse, Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane and the daily news podcast, The Why.
Courtney Stein
Courtney Stein comes to NPR from the New York Times, where she helped to create the weekly podcast First Person. Prior to that, she spent over a decade at WNYC's Peabody Award-winning Radio Rookies, teaching young people to report radio documentaries about issues important to them. While at WNYC, Courtney also helped to pilot the podcast Nancy and was on the team that created the dupont-Columbia award-winning podcast Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice, which began as a radio workshop she started in a juvenile detention center in Queens.
Christina Cala is a producer for Code Switch. Before that, she was at the TED Radio Hour where she piloted two new episode formats — the curator chat and the long interview. She's also reported on a movement to preserve African American cultural sites in Birmingham and followed youth climate activists in New York City.
Jess Kung
Jess Kung (they/them) is a production assistant on Code Switch. Previously, they interned with Code Switch and the podcast The Document from KCRW in Santa Monica. They are a graduate of Long Beach State University.
Gene Demby is the co-host and correspondent for NPR's Code Switch team.
Lori Lizarraga
Award-winning journalist Lori Lizarraga is a co-host of NPR's Code Switch, the preeminent podcast about race and identity in America. Before joining NPR, she reported across the country in Texas, California, Colorado and internationally in Ecuador. She has a reputation for breaking news and a passion and energy for covering under-reported communities, civil rights and issues surrounding immigration and Latinos in the U.S.
Veralyn Williams
Veralyn Williams (she/her) is a Peabody and Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist who has been asking hard questions about our world since she picked up her first microphone in 2004. Now she brings her skills (and ears) to her role as executive producer of programming at NPR.
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