The history of immigration law in the US is a two and a half century parade of heinous, racist, and xenophobic laws. I’m starting to suspect that borders were always about white supremacy, empire, colonialism, and capitalist hegemony.

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The only exceptions were a few laws passed that merely repealed horrific ones, or traded some decency and humanity for political convenience; still in service of empire or capitalist hegemony.

The Alien and Sedition Acts authorized the detention or deportation of people seen as posing political threats to the United States and those from “hostile” nations.

Among the acts was the Alien Enemies Act, which authorized the President to detain, relocate, or deport immigrants from hostile countries in a time of war.

This was only 8 years after the first law in the US that defined eligibility for citizenship by naturalization, in 1790. Congress limited this right to “free white persons,” meaning white, property-owning men.

The framework of US immigration policy hasn’t substantively changed since The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Arbitrary numbers cap the number of people who can move to the US, by the accident of their birth in another country. Capital and wealthy people can move freely, of course.