How immigration myths from the past still shape today's debates

"If you go back to the 1920s, the United States passed an Immigration Reform Act that effectively cut down immigration to close to zero for 40 years in this country. And what happened over those 40 years? The many, many people who had come from many different foreign countries and different foreign cultures, they assimilated into American culture."

"Well, initially, I should say, we're talking about the immigrants who came at the turn of the 20th century, and they were overwhelmingly from Europe and from Southern and Eastern Europe. And many of them were Jewish immigrants and Italian immigrants. And initially, they were not welcomed, and, in fact, they were viewed in very negative ways. They were seen as racially inferior whites who were never going to assimilate, that they were polluting America's racial stock."

An Immigration Reform Act in the 1920s sharply reduced immigration to near zero for roughly four decades. A prevalent narrative asserts that immigrants who arrived earlier quickly assimilated during that period. Immigrants at the turn of the 20th century were overwhelmingly from Southern and Eastern Europe, many Jewish and Italian. These immigrants initially encountered strong hostility and were racialized as inferior whites accused of 'polluting' America's racial stock. Rapid, uniform assimilation did not straightforwardly occur; social and racial anxieties, exclusionary policies, and persistent discrimination complicated integration processes and public acceptance.

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