Concern Over Immigration or Racism?

Republican candidates up and down the ballot claim to be concerned about “illegal” immigration. Hard to believe. Just ask the Haitian migrants in Ohio if their legal status protected them from racist accusations. When Republican ire is directed at immigrants of color, regardless of documentation status, it’s plain to see their concerns are just good old-fashioned white fear.

Throughout the history of the US, racist and discriminatory language has been used to describe immigrants. Chinese, Japanese, German, Eastern European immigrants, among others, have been called “undesirable,” “invaders,” “criminals,” “dangerous,” and accused of being too unintelligent to adapt the language and customs of the United States. These sentiments were not being directed at “illegal” immigrants, they were expressed over the last few hundred years during periods discourse over limiting the number of legal immigrants allowed into the US from those “undesirable” countries.

When you read hateful statements about immigrants, it’s nearly impossible to tell if they were said in the 1880s or the 2020s. The same language: “undesirable,” “dangerous,” “criminal” being used today to describe immigrants from Mexico and Central America, was used to describe other waves of immigrants. Racism, xenophobia, fearing the other, has always been a part of the immigration conversation. The fear that someone unfamiliar is going to come into our space and change our life is tangible and easily exploitable by politicians.

77% of immigrants in the US are here with the proper paperwork. Whether or not they are documented or undocumented cannot be determined simply by looking at their appearance.

When Republicans complain of “illegal” immigrants, check what photos they use. If they’re only using imagery of immigrants of color, ask yourself, hmmmm…could it be…racist?!