Bans, Walls, Raids, Sanctuary: Understanding U.S. Immigration for the Twenty-First Century

184 Pages·2020·2.125 MB·English

by  A. Naomi Paik

Bans, Walls, Raids, Sanctuary
american studies now:
critical histories of the present
Edited by Lisa Duggan and Curtis Marez
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refuses the distinction between politics and culture, focusing on
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Bans, Walls, Raids,
Sanctuary
Understanding U.S. Immigration
for the Twenty-First Century
A. Naomi Paik
university of california press
The publisher and the University of California Press Foundation
gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the
Peter Booth Wiley Endowment Fund
in History.
University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2020 by A. Naomi Paik
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Paik, A. Naomi, author.
Title: Bans, walls, raids, sanctuary : understanding U.S.
immigration in the twenty-first century / A. Naomi
Paik.
Other titles: American studies now ; 12.
Description: Oakland, California : University of
California Press, [2020] | Series: American studies
now; critical histories of the present 12 | Includes
bibliographical references.
Identifiers: lccn 2019045345 (print) | lccn 2019045346
(ebook) | isbn 9780520305113 (cloth) | isbn
9780520305120 (paperback) | isbn 9780520973268
(ebook)
Subjects: lcsh: Sanctuary movement—United
States—21st century. | “Illegal aliens”—Government
policy—United States—21st century. | United
States—Emigration and immigration—Government
policy—21st century. | United States—Politics and
government—2017–
Classification: lcc jv6483 .p35 2020 (print) | lcc jv6483
(ebook) | ddc 325.73—dc23
lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019045345
lc ebook record available at https://lccn.loc
.gov/2019045346
Manufactured in the United States of America
28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
contents
Overview vii
Preface ix
Introduction
1
1. Bans
19
2. Walls
47
3. Raids
74
4. Sanctuary
102
Epilogue
130
Acknowledgments 143
Notes 145
Glossary 167
Further Resources 171
overview
introduction
Donald Trump’s January 2017 executive orders authorizing
the “Muslim Ban,” a border wall, and immigration raids
have deep roots in U.S. history—in its settler colonial
origins, in the nineteenth-century beginnings of immigra-
tion restrictions, and in the era of neoliberalism. To oppose
bans, walls, and raids, we must grapple with these
deep roots.
Settler Colonialism • Neoliberalism • Criminalization
chapter 1. bans
The “Muslim Ban” emerged from the long history of
immigration restrictions, especially since the Chinese
exclusion era, and the legacy of anti-Muslim racism that has
targeted Middle Eastern, Arab, and Muslim peoples. The
Supreme Court’s decision to authorize the policy will have
more enduring and dangerous effects than the ban itself.
Muslim Ban • Chinese Exclusion Era • Johnson-Reed Act (1924) •
Anti-Muslim Racism • Plenary Power
chapter 2. walls
This chapter recounts how U.S. borders transformed from
unregulated spaces of fluidity to sites of extreme policing
that now spreads throughout U.S. territory. This spread to
the interior portends anti-democratic dangers to all.
Borders • Border Patrol • Walls
chapter 3. raids
The history of deportations reveals how the United States
has dealt with the “illegal” immigrant who remains in the
country despite being banned from it. Raids represent the
escalation of deportations against undocumented persons
and documented immigrants who have committed a
deportable offense.
Deportation • Removal • Illegal Immigration Reform and
Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA, 1996) •
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
chapter 4. sanctuary
A genealogy of sanctuary movements can guide immigrant
justice organizing today. An abolitionist approach to
sanctuary organizing is necessary to combat bans, walls,
raids, and other intersecting forms of domination.
Sanctuary • Abolition • Non-reformist Reform •
Restorative Justice • Organizing
epilogue
An abolitionist sanctuary fundamentally contests U.S.
sovereign power and its assumed right to determine who
gets to be here or not. Indigenous resistance and critique
inspires the widest possible notion of an abolitionist
sanctuary, based on reciprocal relationships.
Resistance • Indigenous Critique • Sovereignty
preface: how to use this book
I spent the night of the 2016 U.S. presidential election like many
others—overwhelmed by dread, as it became clear who would
take the White House. The following day, I had to teach. Students
in my prisons studies course were devastated. I emailed them say-
ing that I didn’t want to get out of bed, but I wanted to see them.
Everyone showed up. We made tea and talked and cried. During
our conversation, the students began organizing themselves, mak-
ing connections among their groups. We collectively decided to
respond to the election with a group project documenting reac-
tions to the event. My colleagues and I also got to work, pushing
our institution to declare itself a sanctuary campus. It refused, but
we continue to bring community members together to address
immigration issues.
This book is inspired by these people and by the relentless
work of organizers mobilizing to defend multiple communities
under duress, while seeking to create a different world alto-
gether. I hope this book amplifies those organizers and informs
the work ahead—for those already deeply involved and for
ix
x / Preface
those recently awoken to social justice movements—whether
students, people of faith, parents, teachers, or others who want
to create a just future.
This book is brief by design, so it cannot provide a compre-
hensive account of immigration history. Instead, it marshals his-
torical knowledge to argue that what we face today is not new. I
hope it can combat the historical amnesia that drives persistent
recurring calls for bans, walls, and raids.
Each chapter begins from the present moment and reaches
back to the founding of the United States and to the nineteenth-
century origins of federal immigration regulations. The chap-
ters then shift focus to the past fifty years, a neoliberal era when
the targeting of noncitizens has accelerated rapidly.
You can read the book as speaking to the Trump administra-
tion, its rhetoric, and its policy. But I hope you will also read it as
a systemic analysis of the problems we face. The book further
speaks to counternarratives of resistance that have combatted
unjust government actions against immigrants and other mar-
ginalized people. These histories of struggle give us reason not
to despair and shed light on the interlinked movements we need
for the work ahead. The book ends with a call for an abolitionist
sanctuary movement that not only defends targeted communi-
ties, but also works to build the world of justice we deserve.