Not in My America: Is the Real Issue Immigration—or Naturalization?

From the Naturalization Act of 1790 to the Chinese Exclusion Act to various incarnations of the Immigration Act, the United States has throughout its history imposed limits on the settlement of non-native individuals or non-citizens into the country. Since the time our nation was brand new, groups including slaves, Native Americans, Asians, and women, and up to today’s “Dreamers,” have alternately been barred from achieving U.S. citizenship. In the “land of the free,” has history shown us that immigration controls can be interpreted as a form of oppression, especially when it comes to naturalization?

Joining Curiosity Unplugged is Nicole Legate, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Illinois Tech’s Lewis College of Science and Letters, and Associate Professor of Law Carolyn Shapiro, who is on the faculty of Illinois Tech’s Chicago-Kent College of Law.