Immigration Synthesis Essay

Diane Guerrero and her family are Colombian; in other words, they are not European, and more blatantly, not white. As displayed by immigration policy, the image of America that citizens are satiated with is a nation whose citizens are predominantly white (Ngai 7-8). This is a problem for the Guerrero family as well as for other non-European immigrants attempting to assimilate in a nation where their appearance causes their presence to be obvious. This is an especially impossible task to achieve in a nation where racialization maintains its prevalence. As Mae Ngai further emphasizes, immigration policy uncovers the nation 's vision of itself (Ngai 9). This noticeably creates issues when regarding America’s absence of tolerance of non-white immigrants. Diane’s family entered into …show more content…
America’s immigration policy expresses the nation’s desire for a certain composition of “whiteness.” Hence, America has no appeal to embrace Colombians or other Latino groups, like the Guerrero family.
As America created immigration quotas for non-whites, the restriction generated the inevitability of undocumented immigration, introducing the problem of illegal immigration into the nation (Ngai 5). Illegal immigration was not an extensive issue for America until the nation’s immigration policy implemented the recognizably race-based quotas, repressing the immigration of all non-white races. The fact that European immigration is not limited while Latino and Asian immigration is suggests that race and legal status remain intently coupled in America. These quotas make it difficult for unfavorable immigrants to come to America without being of undocumented status. Thus, the restrictive immigration policies leave immigrants, such as the Guerrero family, with no other option but to enter the nation illegally. Due to this, the term “illegal alien” developed as a