Afrasianet - immigration policy goes beyond tightening border restrictions to redefining American identity, according to an analysis by The Atlantic. A rising Republican rhetoric links belonging to the country to race and religion, and questions the integration of nonwhite immigrants even when they succeed economically and academically and contribute to their communities.
In an article in the magazine, writer Adam Serwer said that the Republican Party, which used to offer the United States a haven for people coming from around the world, no longer exists, explaining that the party generally views immigrants as a problem, especially those who are not white, even if they are qualified and skilled.
The Republican seeker is increasingly white and Christian, he said, citing the Department of Homeland Security's celebration of declining naturalization and immigration, and Fox News' praise of declining arrivals from Muslim-majority countries.
Between the economy and exclusion
Many U.S. regions suffering from declining populations need immigrants to revive their economies, Serour said, citing areas in Ohio that Haitian immigrants have helped revitalize.
However, President Donald Trump's administration revoked the temporary protected status that allowed Haitians to remain in the United States, and authorities began installing electronic monitoring devices around the ankles of some of them.
He also noted that the Trump administration has made refugee reception more focused on white Africans from South Africa, while most refugee applications from other countries have been put on hold.
This reveals a paradox in Republican rhetoric: The poor immigrant is accused of relying on taxpayer money, and the successful worker is portrayed as a competitor snatching jobs from Americans.
But the state's Republican-leaning law requires 90 percent of the university's students to be from Texas, and French did not know the nationality of the students in the photo. Serur believes that it was their ethnic appearance that made them foreigners, even though their celebration of their college team reflected their integration into the local culture.
Conservative activists are using the concept of inclusion to exclude certain groups, even when they learn, work, speak English and participate in public life, he said.
The author linked this to the "color blindness" rhetoric that rejects anti-discrimination policies while questioning the success of non-whites, arguing that this logic has historically been used to justify the exclusion of blacks, and then extended to Asian Americans when they achieved academic and economic success.
Breadth of the discourse
A number of top Republicans in Texas have not explicitly condemned French's remarks, including Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and Deputy Governor Dan Patrick, while former Senator John Cornyn called his remarks embarrassing to the party.
Former Republican Chancellor Karl Rove has also criticized the growing influence of extremist figures within the party. But Serour concluded that these ideas are no longer marginal, but have become part of the Republican mainstream.
The article warns that linking American belonging to race and religion threatens the principle of citizenship, and turns the success of non-white immigrants into a cause for suspicion, rather than as evidence of integration and participation in society.
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