(Im)migration and Refugee History, Rights & Countering Xenophobia

President-elect has pledged to immediately halt travel restrictions imposed by the Trump administration.

The Trump administration expanded its controversial travel ban to six new countries Friday, sparking widespread condemnation from civil rights groups who claim the new restrictions are motivated not by national security but anti-Muslim bias.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday let three American Muslim men sue several FBI agents who they accused of placing them on the government's "no-fly list" for refusing to become informants, rejecting a challenge to the lawsuit by President Donald Trump's administration.

On January 27, 2017, one week into his presidency, Donald Trump enacted Executive Order No. 13769, popularly known as the “Muslim Ban.” The Order named seven Muslim-majority nations and restricted, effective immediately, the reentry into the United States of visa and green card holders from these states.

"Understanding the Muslim Ban and how we'll keep fighting it."

Executive Order 13769, titled Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, labeled the "Muslim ban" by critics, or commonly referred to as the Trump travel ban, was an executive order by US President Donald Trump. Except for the extent to which it was blocked by various courts, it was in effect from January 27, 2017, until March 6, 2017, when it was superseded by Executive Order 13780, a second order sharing the title "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States".

Executive Order 13780, titled Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, was an executive order signed by United States President Donald Trump on March 6, 2017. It placed a 90-day restriction on entry to the U.S. by nationals of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, and barred entry for all refugees who did not possess either a visa or valid travel documents for 120 days. This executive order—sometimes called "Travel Ban 2.0"—revoked and replaced Executive Order 13769 issued on January 27, 2017.

The Trump travel ban denotes a series of executive actions taken by Donald Trump as President of the United States, beginning with Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States.

On April 25, the Supreme Court will hear a challenge to President Trump’s Muslim ban, which has been in effect since December. As a result, the United States currently bans nationals of five

We ask you to join us to declare #NoMuslimBanEver now through October 18 by raising awareness through events, forums, dialogues, and actions, and by attending the 10/18 National Mobilization in Washington, D.C.

Here’s what you need to know about the NO BAN Act.

A Twitter analysis by the WITNESS Media Lab shows how manipulation of image content and context online is used for anti-immigrant propaganda

LGBTQ+ immigrants say officials have failed to address discrimination, and that an inadequate response to Covid is compounding their misery

Four migrant families separated at the US-Mexico border under the Trump administration will be reunited this week, the Department of Homeland Security announced Monday, marking the first reunifications under President Joe Biden.

Trump has governed with hate and cruelty on immigration and he built on the foundations of his predecessors.

What do San Francisco, Chicago, and Albany, NY have in common? They’re sanctuary cities - among hundreds of other U.S. cities, states, and counties that have declared their support for immigrant populations, often by limiting their cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement - otherwise known as ICE. Safe havens to some, crime-infested danger zones to

The Takeaway is America's weekday conversation.

Elizabeth Price Foley of Florida International University and Cristina Rodriguez of Yale University discuss President Trump's executive order on immigration and how Congress could respond to sanctuary cities going forward. Continue today’s conversation on Facebookand Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr. We want to know what you think of the podcast! Email us at editor@constitutioncenter.org. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly. Please subscribe to We the People and our companion podcast, Live at America’s Town Hall, on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app. We the People is a member of Slate’s Panoply network. Check out the full roster of podcasts at Panoply.fm. Despite our congressional charter, the National Constitution Center is a private nonprofit; we receive little government support, and we rely on the generosity of people around the country who are inspired by our nonpartisan mission of constitutional debate and education. Please consider becoming a member to support our work, including this podcast. Visit constitutioncenter.org to learn more. This show was engineered by Kevin Kilbourne and produced by Nicandro Iannacci. Research was provided by Lana Ulrich and Tom Donnelly. The host of We the People is Jeffrey Rosen.

Our fourth episode of “What You Need to Know on Immigration” covers so-called “sanctuary cities” and their place in the politics of immigration. BPC’s Theresa Brown and Jordan LaPier cover what exactly a sanctuary city is; the relationship between state, local, and federal law enforcement on immigration; and legal challenges to sanctuary cities (such as the high-profile “Kate’s Law”... Source

In the 1980s, the United States experienced a refugee crisis. Thousands of Central Americans were fleeing civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala, traveling north through Mexico, and crossing the border into the U.S. [Note: Just tuning in? Listen to … Continue reading →

In the 1980s, Rev. John Fife and his congregation at Southside Presbyterian Church began to help Central American migrants fleeing persecution from US backed dictatorships. Their efforts would mark the beginning of a new — and controversial — social movement … Continue reading →

"Islamophobia and the Law brings together leading legal scholars in the United States to explore the emergence and rise of Islamophobia since the 9/11 terror attacks. It is the first book to focus on the use of the law to promulgate Islamophobia through state policies and institutions, and also to authorize private discrimination by constructing Muslims and Islam as perpetually alien and suspicious. The volume addresses Islamophobia in race, immigration and citizenship, and criminal law and national security in the use of courts to advance anti-Muslim projects and in law and society"--

"In many countries around the world persons with disabilities still suffer torture, ill- treatment and severe discrimination. Sometimes they are persecuted directly by the state, but frequently it is their family members, society or religious institutions that expose them to serious harm, while the state turns a blind eye to it. Persons with disabilities make up approximately 15% of the world population and an estimated 20% of the population of refugees and internally displaced persons. This book examines when persons with disabilities, who are being persecuted for reasons of their disability, are refugees and thus entitled to the protection of the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol"--

"Frost explores how the United States' concept of citizenship and the rights of citizens has evolved, and especially how it has been challenged"--

"Some half million Chinese immigrants settled in the American West in the nineteenth century. In spite of their vital contributions to the economy in gold mining, railroad construction, the founding of small businesses, and land reclamation, the Chinese were targets of systematic political discrimination and widespread violence. The author's lifetime of research in legal sources all over the West--from California to Montana to New Mexico--serves as a basic account of the legal treatment of Chinese immigrants."--Back cover.

"Conventionally, US immigration history has been understood through the lens of restriction and those who have been barred from getting in. In contrast, The Good Immigrants considers immigration from the perspective of Chinese elites--intellectuals, businessmen, and students--who gained entrance because of immigration exemptions. Exploring a century of Chinese migrations, Madeline Hsu looks at how the model minority characteristics of many Asian Americans resulted from US policies that screened for those with the highest credentials in the most employable fields, enhancing American economic competitiveness. The earliest US immigration restrictions targeted Chinese people but exempted students as well as individuals who might extend America's influence in China. Western-educated Chinese such as Madame Chiang Kai-shek became symbols of the US impact on China, even as they patriotically advocated for China's modernization. World War II and the rise of communism transformed Chinese students abroad into refugees, and the Cold War magnified the importance of their talent and training. As a result, Congress legislated piecemeal legal measures to enable Chinese of good standing with professional skills to become citizens. Pressures mounted to reform American discriminatory immigration laws, culminating with the 1965 Immigration Act. Filled with narratives featuring such renowned Chinese immigrants as I. M. Pei, The Good Immigrants examines the shifts in immigration laws and perceptions of cultural traits that enabled Asians to remain in the United States as exemplary, productive Americans"--

Over the course of less than a century, the U.S. transformed from a nation that excluded Asians from immigration and citizenship to one that receives more immigrants from Asia than from anywhere else in the world. Yet questions of how that dramatic shift took place have long gone unanswered. In this first comprehensive history of Asian exclusion repeal, Jane H. Hong unearths the transpacific movement that successfully ended restrictions on Asian immigration. The mid-twentieth century repeal of Asian exclusion, Hong shows, was part of the price of America's postwar empire in Asia. The demands of U.S. empire-building during an era of decolonization created new opportunities for advocates from both the U.S. and Asia to lobby U.S. Congress for repeal. Drawing from sources in the United States, India, and the Philippines, Opening the Gates to Asia charts a movement more than twenty years in the making. Positioning repeal at the intersection of U.S. civil rights struggles and Asian decolonization, Hong raises thorny questions about the meanings of nation, independence, and citizenship on the global stage.

"More than a quarter of a million LGBTQ-identified migrants in the United States lack documentation and constantly risk detention and deportation. LGBTQ migrants around the world endure similarly precarious situations. Eithne Luibheid's and Karma R. Chavez's edited collection provides a first-of-its-kind look at LGBTQ migrants and communities. The academics, activists, and artists in the volume center illegalization, detention, and deportation in national and transnational contexts, and examine how migrants and allies negotiate, resist, refuse, and critique these processes. The works contribute to the fields of gender and sexuality studies, critical race and ethnic studies, borders and migration studies, and decolonial studies. Bridging voices and works from inside and outside of the academy, and international in scope, Queer and Trans Migrations illuminates new perspectives in the field of queer and trans migration studies"--