Nativism, immigration and the Latinization of America.
| Author | Miguel Jr., Guadalupe San |
Introduction
In April 2010, the state of Arizona enacted an immigration bill viewed as draconian by many Americans. The law, known as SB 1070, makes it a state crime to be in the U.S. without proper documents. It allows the police to stop anyone on "reasonable suspicion" that they may be in the country unlawfully and arrest them on the spot if they can't produce identity papers. (2) Traditionally the federal government has enforced immigration laws, so this is an extraordinary step taken by the state.
The proponents of this law argue that the number of undocumented immigrants, or 'illegals" as they are known, is too high due to failure by the federal government to control immigration. "Illegals" are contributing to crime in the state, straining the country's social services capability, and threatening both the personal lives of citizens and the security of this nation. The law is the state's response to this threat and is aimed at bringing some law and order to the area. (3)
Local, state and national political leaders as well as grassroots, civil rights organizations, and a host of citizen groups have taken positions in support of or in opposition to this bill. Liberal groups on the left fear that this law will lead to "racial profiling" of Mexican immigrants in particular and of Latinos in general because the vast majority of undocumented immigrants come from Mexico. (4) Conservative groups on the right, especially the state's political leaders, refute these charges and argue that this measure is necessary in order to protect the border and to halt illegal immigration. President Obama also got involved by publicly opposing the law and filing suit to overturn it. (5)
Legislators are not the only ones engaged in immigrant bashing in Arizona. County sheriffs and local citizen groups are also taking action against undocumented immigrants. For example, County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, an elected official in Maricopa County, Arizona, has conducted a vicious campaign against those crossing the Mexican border "illegally", denied them their human and constitutional rights, and treated them harshly. Although he calls himself the "toughest sheriff in Arizona" the New York Times called him "America's worst sheriff'. (6) Sheriff Paul Babeu from Pinal County, Arizona, similar to Arpaio, has cracked down on "illegal" immigrants and appeared on a variety of white nationalists programs to condemn these individuals for increasing local crime and for threatening national security. (7)
Not to be outdone by county sheriffs, local citizens have established several nativist organizations and engaged in vigilante efforts aimed at patrolling the US-Mexico border and making citizens' arrests of undocumented immigrants. Among the most prominent was The Minutemen, a border watch group formed in 2005. Its purpose was to stop undocumented immigrants from crossing a 23 mile stretch of the Mexican border in the southern part of Arizona. The group's intent was to track undocumented immigrants and to report them to the Border Patrol so they could be picked up. In 2010, the group shifted its emphasis to capturing immigrants and drug smugglers instead of just reporting them. But soon thereafter the group quickly disbanded. Its leaders did not want to shoulder the responsibility and liability of potential violence against immigrants by its members and so they shut down their operation. (8)
Arizona, I might note, is not the only state engaged in this controversy. Other states and cities have experienced similar outbursts against undocumented immigrants. In Nebraska, Texas, and Pennsylvania, several municipalities enacted city ordinances against the renting of property or hiring of undocumented immigrants. In Washington State, voters took a position on a ballot initiative known as I-1056, which would, among other things, deny social services and driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants. California enacted a series of propositions denying undocumented immigrants social services and public education in a language other than English. Massachusetts tried to deny public health benefits to undocumented immigrants. (9) In Georgia, state representative John Yates proposed that U.S. Border patrol agents "shoot to kill" undocumented immigrants crossing the border. (10) Finally, political leaders in a dozen states are collecting support from legislators throughout the country to challenge automatic U.S. citizenship to the children of "illegal" immigrants. (11)
Why the concern with undocumented immigrants now and what explains the strong reactions of political leaders and white citizens to them? The following provides a possible answer to this question.
Nativism as used in this essay is defined as an "intense opposition to an internal minority on the ground of its foreign (i.e., Un-American') connections". (12)
The New Nativism in the Early 21st Century
A few scholars have referred to the spate of negative attitudes towards immigrants in the past several decades as a new nativism. (13) In what sense is the nativism of the early 21st century different from the anti-immigrant sentiment of the 19th and early 20th century? In what sense is it similar?? Let me suggest several ways.
First, the new nativism targets immigrants of color. (14) At the turn of the century, European immigrants, especially those from southern, central, and eastern Europe, were the primary targets. (15) Although nativists attacked a diverse group of newcomers from Asia, Mexico, and other parts of the world their antipathy was directed at Europeans who were white upon arrival or who became white in the process of assimilation. (16) In the more recent period, nativist hostility is directed at Asians, Muslims, and Latinos.
Second, it specifically targets Mexican immigrants. Nativists direct their venom at immigrants who are here "illegally", i.e., without the proper documents. The vast majority of undocumented immigrants, however, are from Mexico. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, for instance, 57 percent of "illegal" immigrants in 2008 came from Mexico. (17) The sentiments against undocumented immigrants then are, for all practical purposes, against Mexican immigrants. Images circulated by nativists through the popular media or the internet remind Americans that the problem of "illegal" immigrants is a Mexican one.
Third, it does not limit its hostility only to Mexicans without proper documents. All Mexicans and those that look and "speak" Mexican, i.e., Spanish, are suspect in the eyes of nativists. This is the case because it is nearly impossible to distinguish between a Mexican immigrant and a US citizen of Mexican descent or between a Mexican immigrant and someone from El Salvador, Guatemala, Columbia or any other Spanish speaking country in the Americas. The hostility towards all things Mexican is reflected in nativist support for a variety of policies that have little to do with immigration. In Arizona, for instance, legislators enacted a bill to eliminate its ethnic studies program a month after passing an anti-immigrant bill. Nativists felt that the ethnic studies program--an educational program focusing on Mexican American history and culture in the schools--was promoting ethnic solidarity, white resentment, and the overthrow of the U.S. government. (18) Throughout the nation, legislators, educators, and conservative groups also have condemned bilingual education, an instructional approach beneficial to immigrants and U.S.-born minorities who speak a language other than English. The vast majority of children in these programs are Spanish-speaking Latinos. Nativists have argued that bilingual education does not teach English nor does it encourage assimilation. Instead it promotes ethnic solidarity, linguistic separatism and social fragmentation. (19)
Anti-Mexican sentiment, I might note, is not a new phenomenon. It is rooted in the negative attitudes English colonists and Anglo Americans have had towards Spaniards and Mexicans over the centuries. (20) English colonists inherited anti-Catholic and anti-Spanish views from England during the 16th and 17th century. Many of these views were transferred to the Catholic Mexican population residing in what became the American Southwest. In making this transfer, Anglos found additional reasons to despise Mexicans in the 19th century. One of the most significant was race mixture. Most Anglo American visitors, merchants, and political leaders, for example, generally agreed that Mexicans had "inherited the worst qualities of Spaniards and Indians to produce a 'race' still more despicable than that of either parent." (21)
Negative attitudes towards Mexicans hardened in the 19th century as a result of the legacy of hate unleashed by the U.S. conquest of Mexico in the mid-1800s and the violence encountered along the U.S. Mexico border in the latter part of the century. During the early 20th century, nativists developed new images of Mexicans as "illegals," as dangerous criminals who were not authorized to be in the United States. (22)
The negative attitudes towards Mexicans held by Anglos in the past have been strengthened and broadened in the more recent period. In addition to viewing them as illegal and inferior they are now also constructed as violent criminals, unwanted invaders bent on destroying the nation-state, a drain on the American welfare state, and potential terrorists. (23)
Nativism and The Latinization of America
What explains the rise and intensity of the new nativism? Although influenced by a variety of political, economic, and social factors, I would argue that one of the most significant is cultural in nature. (24) Nativism, especially the antipathy towards Mexicans and other Latinos, has surfaced in the early 21th century because of the perceived and actual impact they are having on American society, especially on its culture. Some scholars refer to this as the Latinization of America. By this...
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