Border Hawks and Patterns of Xenophobia in America

Question 1

Before 2025, the Alien Enemies Act was invoked three times by presidents to control particular immigrants living in the U.S. When and why?

Answer 1

• Madison, War of 1812 (British nationals)
• Wilson, World War I (Germans, Austrians, Hungarians, Bulgarians)
• F. Roosevelt, World War II (Germans, Italians, Japanese)

Question 2

Define “xenophobia.” How do scholars like Erika Lee and Neil Foley connect American xenophobia to U.S. racial history and structures?

Answer 2

Literally means fear of foreigners. As an ideology, it is a set of beliefs that treats foreigners as threats to the nation and its people.

Erika Lee: xenophobia “is a form of fear, a fear of foreigners.But it’s more than that. It is a form of racism that has functioned alongside slavery, settler colonialism, conquest, segregation and white supremacy. It promotes systemic discrimination against not only those who were actually born in a foreign country, but those who are perceived to be foreign because, for example, of the way they look.”

Neil Foley: “xenophobia or nativism is an intense opposition to an internal minority based on its foreignness. In most European countries, this has meant immigrants. In the U.S.,
anti-immigrant beliefs have been fused with the historic
exclusion of native-born Black people, Asians, Caribbean
Islanders, Latin Americans, Native Americans, and Mexicans residing in territory ceded to the U.S. in 1848.”

Question 3

Can you describe the mix of economic, social, cultural, and political factors that have fueled xenophobia in the U.S.?

Answer 3

Economic: Employment, government expenses, welfare
Cultural and social: linguistic, religious, ethnic differences
Perceived crises: wartime threats, pandemics, health scares
Political: scapegoating, conspiracy theories, demagoguery

Question 4

Who were the Know-Nothings?

Answer 4

nativist political party, anti Irish and German, short lived success

Question 5

Why was the anti-Chinese movement, propelled by Western states, so successful in the late 19th century?

Answer 5

Chinese workers and transcontinental railroad, labor conflict, “defending American labor”

Question 6

Are there parallels and contrasts between the early 20th and early 21st centuries in terms of anti-immigrant politics? If so, explain.

Answer 6

economic protections -> worker migrants
fears of an organized crime wave (Italians and the mafia) -> Mexicans and cartel
foreign extremist (jews as ideological radicals) -> muslim ban

Question 7

Erika Lee observes that xenophobia is a “shapeshifting, wily thing.” How so? Do you agree?

Answer 7

You think it’s gone away, and it comes back. It evolves so that even though one immigrant group finally gains acceptance, it can easily be applied to another and sometimes the group that just made it can be very active in leading the charge against the others