Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America

A “formidable pressure group” (47), the CJIC was an alliance of nativist groups that sought to exclude Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, and Mexican immigrants. They argued that these groups were not assimilable into American society and should be excluded from citizenship. They pushed lawmakers to embed racial hierarchies into immigration law. Additionally, the group lobbied for numerical restrictions on Mexican immigrants. Repeatedly, they described illegal immigrants as vicious and criminal, contributing to a racialized and negative stereotype of immigrants. This group, and others like it, placed pressure on governments to pass restrictionist immigration policies. Ngai describes their ideology and political efforts to highlight the American public’s hostility toward racial minorities who immigrated to the US in the 1920s and 1930s.

After the 1924 Immigration Act passed, businesses sought loopholes to ensure a supply of migrant workers. Since the Philippines was a colonial possession of the US at that time, Filipinos could come to the US in unrestricted numbers. The Filipinos who came were predominantly young and male and took jobs that were not desired by whites, yet they met with open hostility in California and the West Coast. Some were violently attacked and whites rioted in protest of their presence. Ngai notes that Filipinos were Christian, spoke English, and dressed in western styles. Their racial identity nonetheless infuriated white Americans, especially when they danced with and dated white women.

Ultimately, with the independence of the Philippines, their immigration was all but curtailed. Additionally, many in the US were sent back. Highlighting the inconsistency of America’s founding ideals with colonialism, Ngai argues that the expulsion of Filipino immigrants allowed Americans to deny those contradictions and to render the remaining Filipinos invisible.

Braceros were Mexican nationals contracted to work in the US under a governmental program that began in 1942 and terminated in 1964. From 1948 through 1964, approximately 200,000 braceros came to the US each year, mainly for low-wage agricultural labor. According to the Migrant Labor Agreement with Mexico, braceros were supposed to be paid the prevailing wage and given adequate housing and food. In reality, there were “widespread contract violations” (143), especially with underpayment for services. Initially, braceros could complain to the Mexican consul, However, the Consul lost leverage to discipline employers when terms of the agreement were renegotiated.

The braceros were politically disempowered and considered apart from American society. Expected to return to Mexico, they were migrant laborers. When braceros deserted their employers, they instantly became illegal aliens. Ngai describes their plight to demonstrate the willingness of the US to contradict its commitment to free labor when racial minorities are the workers. Their political disempowerment left them unable to challenge the violations of their contract. Ngai also highlights the fluidity of the line between legal and illegal aliens, noting the changing status of braceros who left the employ of exploitive growers.

Given the derogatory name of “wetbacks,” undocumented Mexicans emerged with the hurdles to their legal immigration in the 1920s. Many could not afford the poll taxes and/or wanted to avoid the humiliating bodily inspections at the border. When the Bracero Program was established, there were not enough spots in it to fulfill the demand for Mexican labor in the US. Mexico also did not allow braceros to work in the segregationist states of Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri.

Agribusinesses ultimately preferred undocumented workers because they were cheaper and were completely powerless politically. All ethnic Mexicans, whether American citizens, legal or illegal aliens, were tainted in the American imagination with criminality for illegal entry. When the Great Depression hit in the 1930s, nativist groups pushed successfully for the expulsion of many Mexicans. The 1965 Immigration Act contributed to the association of Mexican immigration with illegality because it imposed numerical restrictions for the first time. The law created illegal aliens, which have been a policy issue since.

Nisei, or Japanese Americans born in the US to immigrant parents, were evacuated from the West Coast and interned in camps during World War II. Additionally, they were initially barred from serving in the US military. Highlighting the legacy of racial hierarchies in US immigration law, Ngai explains that Japanese Americans were deemed foreign, disloyal, and essentially unassimilable. In comparison, German and Italian Americans were not so treated. Once in the camps, these citizens wanted to keep their families together and feared an early return to a hostile American public. As a result, a portion of Japanese Americans refused to complete loyalty questionnaires and over 5,000 renounced their US citizenship. While most were able to reclaim citizenship, it took a long political battle to do so.

Issei refers to first-generation Japanese immigrants, who were excluded at this time from citizenship and faced a conundrum in the camps. If they renounced Japan, they became stateless. Ngai explains that most Issei had divided loyalties: They were loyal Americans who retained their Japanese culture. Most did not embrace Japanese militarism. They too were evacuated from the West Coast following the bombing of Pearl Harbor and taken to internment camps.

Chinese paper sons, or those who claimed to be the sons of Chinese with American citizenship by native birth (204), accounted for the bulk of Chinese immigration between 1920 and 1940. It was virtually impossible to dispute their status as Americans given the destruction of the San Francisco Hall of Records in the 1906 earthquake. Even state efforts to challenge the authenticity of their claims backfired, as judges mainly ruled in their favor and thus created a paper trail establishing their legal status. As citizens, they were then entitled to bring others in their family over.

In the aftermath of World War II, when China had become Communist, authorities tried to reduce Chinese immigration. They targeted this form of immigration with a confession program. The program granted legal status to most who confessed to using a false paper trail but succeeded in shutting the door to future immigration of paper sons. Ngai highlights the discretion of administrators to change the status of immigrants as further evidence of how laws and their enforcement create illegal aliens. She additionally stresses the impact of foreign policy on immigrant groups. With China defined as an enemy, those seeking to migrate were considered spies instead of individuals seeking freedom.