The history of national origin and racial exclusion in U.S. immigration laws serves as a lens into this nation's soul. There is no better body of law to illustrate the close nexus between race and class than U.S. immigration law and its enforcement. The United States also has a long history of restricting (if not outright excluding) entry of certain racial minority groups into the country. Transference of hate and displacement of frustration from one racial minority to another explain much in the heated racial dynamics of the twentieth century. Cognitive dissonance theory teaches us how the nation can be so harsh to noncitizens of color while claiming that racism is dead in America. . Immigration law expressly defines who can and cannot enter …show more content…
Government to establish rule regulating the admission of noncitizens into the country. The Supreme Court has invoked the doctrine to permit the federal government, and at times the states, to discriminate against immigrants with the lawful right to remain permanently in this country. Because the plenary power doctrine bestows constitutional immunity on the immigration laws, the laws have been more extreme with class and racial impacts far clearer and more direct in immigration law than in other bodies of U.S. law. The Bush administration expressly relied on the plenary power doctrine in targeting Arab and Muslim noncitizens for special rules and procedures in the "war on terror" after September 11, 2001. The doctrine also serves to immunize from meaningful judicial review federal laws that discriminate against immigrants who live in the United States). Congress and the executive branch generally have the final say on immigration law and policy (Olivas). Noncitizens have comparatively little input. And the courts ordinarily do not interfere with the substantive decisions of the political branches of government. Society’s treatment of noncitizens of color, reveals how society views people of color. The white race deems itself to be the dominant race in this country. And so it is, in …show more content…
I also find it unsettling that in the past few years, citizens that are born here are treated just as harshly as immigrants. For example, looking at the treatment of Latinos that are Americans citizens in Arizona. Racial profiling is very evident. U.S. citizens are pulled over or taken aside and are subjected to prove their citizenship. For obvious reasons there are a select section of the American population that are not free to come and go as they please without harassment. As colorblind as I’d like to think I am, I can remember being uncomfortable and paranoid for a period of time after the 911 attack. Of course I never treated anyone differently, but I fell into the paranoid state of mind when I saw men that appeared to be foreign in nature walking around with the stereo typical backpacks. My flying habits didn’t change however I began becoming suspicious of everyone. Yet, I was okay sitting next to a white man that could have potentially been a serial killer or mass murderer. Today there is great concern about immigrants coming from Syria and homeland security have gone through great measures about who they are letting in from foreign countries. They are trying to escape the atrocities of their country, and coming here is not only slightly better, because they are no longer in a war