Immigration in the United States:
In the 1960s, more than 25 million immigrants settled into the United States; today that number has jumped to over 35 million (Jones-Correa 2002; Rogers 2006; U.S. Census of Bureau 2010). Before the 1960s, most immigrants in the U.S. were of European decent, however, the 60s saw the first time that a majority of the immigrants entering the United States were not of coming exclusively from Europe, with eighty-five percent of immigrants coming from Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia (Edmonston and Passel 1994; Rogers 2006). The reason behind this new wave of immigration is due in part to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 – also known as the Hart-Cellar Act – which amended parts of the McCarran-Walter …show more content…
This lack of scholarship around Black immigration makes it harder to obtain empirical evidence and comprehensive data on the growing diversity of Black people in the U.S. (Greer 2013). It also leads to an unconscious erasure of Black immigrants and Black immigration more generally. Black immigrants are essentially left out of conversations concerning immigration and, consequently, their presence in the U.S. is erased; it perpetuates a dichotomy that claims all Black people are non-immigrants and all immigrants are non-Black. Many theorists agree that erasing Black immigrants from discourse around immigration is not only divisive but damaging to the issue of immigration more broadly as it expands across racial lines and the existence of Black immigrants in the U.S. politically and socially (Bryce-Laporte 1972; Nopper 2016; Pierre 2004). If one was to cross the U.S.-Mexican border, they might find thousands of Haitians stuck there, unable to enter the States because, despite the absence of political media coverage, Black immigrants are some of the most targeted populations for immigration raids and deportation missions (Lee 2016; Nopper
In the 1960s, more than 25 million immigrants settled into the United States; today that number has jumped to over 35 million (Jones-Correa 2002; Rogers 2006; U.S. Census of Bureau 2010). Before the 1960s, most immigrants in the U.S. were of European decent, however, the 60s saw the first time that a majority of the immigrants entering the United States were not of coming exclusively from Europe, with eighty-five percent of immigrants coming from Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia (Edmonston and Passel 1994; Rogers 2006). The reason behind this new wave of immigration is due in part to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 – also known as the Hart-Cellar Act – which amended parts of the McCarran-Walter …show more content…
This lack of scholarship around Black immigration makes it harder to obtain empirical evidence and comprehensive data on the growing diversity of Black people in the U.S. (Greer 2013). It also leads to an unconscious erasure of Black immigrants and Black immigration more generally. Black immigrants are essentially left out of conversations concerning immigration and, consequently, their presence in the U.S. is erased; it perpetuates a dichotomy that claims all Black people are non-immigrants and all immigrants are non-Black. Many theorists agree that erasing Black immigrants from discourse around immigration is not only divisive but damaging to the issue of immigration more broadly as it expands across racial lines and the existence of Black immigrants in the U.S. politically and socially (Bryce-Laporte 1972; Nopper 2016; Pierre 2004). If one was to cross the U.S.-Mexican border, they might find thousands of Haitians stuck there, unable to enter the States because, despite the absence of political media coverage, Black immigrants are some of the most targeted populations for immigration raids and deportation missions (Lee 2016; Nopper