The Year in Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric

The ebbs and flows of nativism in the U.S. have long determined which nationalities are allowed into the country, and how they’re treated once they arrive. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, for instance, to prohibit the immigration of Chinese laborers in the face of fears that these workers were stealing jobs and depressing wages. The panic was stoked back then by ugly, anti-Chinese propaganda campaigns.

If 2015 taught us anything, it’s that racially-loaded anti-immigrant campaigns are by no means a thing of the past. Many Republican presidential candidates (Donald Trump in particular) have unapologetically fueled public prejudices against new arrivals. During the course of this year, lawmakers from all over the country have joined in, raising the volume to a fever pitch.