{"id":1077,"date":"2026-09-12T09:07:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T09:07:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=1077"},"modified":"2026-09-12T09:07:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T09:07:54","slug":"this-week-in-nation-history-the-long-battle-for-progressive-humane-immigration-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=1077","title":{"rendered":"This Week in \u2018Nation\u2019 History: The Long Battle for Progressive, Humane Immigration Reform"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<div>\n<article>\n<header>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>February 8, 2014<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h1>This Week in \u2018Nation\u2019 History: The Long Battle for Progressive, Humane Immigration Reform<\/h1>\n<h1>This Week in \u2018Nation\u2019 History: The Long Battle for Progressive, Humane Immigration Reform<\/h1>\n<h2>It\u2019s worth recalling that on the issue of immigration, as on much else, there is little new under the sun.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<section>\n<time>February 8, 2014<\/time><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>One year ago, after President Obama won re-election with overwhelming support from the Latino community, Republicans in Congress, led by Senator Marco Rubio, produced a \u201cframework\u201d for comprehensive immigration reform that would include a path to citizenship for at least some of the nation\u2019s 11 million undocumented immigrants. Enlightened elements of the GOP seemed to belatedly recognize that the party could only expect further and more resounding defeats at the ballot box as long as it continued to impede Latinos struggling to find security and success in this country. \u201cThere are signs that the stars are aligning in favor of reform,\u201d <em>The Nation<\/em> editorialized last February, \u201cbut we shouldn\u2019t get ahead of ourselves. The real battle begins now.\u201d\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>It is difficult to do battle, however, when the other side refuses to take the field. After months of promiscuous footsy\u2014partnering with the bipartisan Gang of Eight to write a comprehensive bill before abruptly ceasing cooperation and embracing draconian, deal-killing enforcement mechanisms\u2014last October Rubio gave up on serious reform entirely, calculating\u2014quite wrongly, we suspect\u2014that there was more electoral gain in soothing the Tea Party\u2019s race anxieties than in pursuing true justice for millions of new Americans.<\/p>\n<p>Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner has now made the same faulty calculation, announcing last week that he thought it was unlikely immigration reform could be passed by the end of 2014. The cowardly retreat by congressional Republicans from a long-overdue comprehensive immigration overhaul\u2014coming just days after releasing a list of their \u201cprinciples\u201d for future legislation\u2014only underscores the extent to which the GOP is fatally out-of-touch with the pulse and future of this country.<\/p>\n<p>While the need for such legislation is unprecedented and the depths of Republican antipathy to immigrants never ceases to amaze, it\u2019s worth recalling that on the issue of immigration as on much else there is little new under the sun. Ninety years ago, when another set of reactionary congressional Republicans were trying to pass a bill to restrict immigration\u2014this time by further lowering quotas for Southern and Eastern European immigrants\u2014<em>The Nation<\/em> published an editorial titled, \u201c.\u201d The first line employed terminology now recognized as offensive, but the argument itself could easily have been written today:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Americans are all immigrants\u2014all except the red Indians\u2014and if the anthropologists be right, even they migrated from Asia. There is no American race; there is not even the established claim of centuries to plead the primary right of any one stock\u2026.Whence comes this myth that our country is the private property of some one racial stock? Whence come the arrogant assumptions of those who, like the chairman of the House Committee on Immigration, want to preserve a \u201cracial homogeneity\u201d which has never existed?\u2026<\/p>\n<p>It is a tragic thing that this country, built on the sweat and aspirations of immigrants, should so soon be fencing itself about with a wall. We are becoming the great example of national selfishness in all the world. While we bar human beings from our shores we bully weaker countries into granting American capital privileges alien to their national interests. We force Mexico to revise its oil laws, tell China how to use its customs, ask Russia to reconsider its view of private property, and everywhere claim the \u201copen door\u201d\u2014for American capital\u2014as an American policy. \u201cEqual rights and opportunities, <em>for capital<\/em>, all over the world\u201d\u2014what a bitter slogan for America when a hungry peasant from South Italy, a persecuted Jew from Rumania, an Armenian whose home is a heap of ashes finds the door to America slammed in his face!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Immigration Act of 1924 passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and was only superseded by the abolition of all immigration quotas in 1965. But as Boehner\u2019s announcement made clear, its spirit remains very much alive. For a fuller history, see <em>Strangers in Our Land<\/em>, an e-book collection of <em>The Nation<\/em>\u2019s writings on immigration going back to 1868, which will be published next month.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p><em>Subscribers to <\/em>The Nation <em>can access our fully searchable digital archive, which contains thousands of historic articles, essays and reviews, letters to the editor and editorials dating back to July 6, 1865.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=1074\">Trump Wants Voters to Pretend He\u2019s on the Ballot<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=1075\">This Week in \u2018Nation\u2019 History: The Fourth of July and the Meaning of Patriotism<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<footer>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>                Submit a correction<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>                Send a letter to the editor<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>                Reprints &amp; permissions<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h2><em>Become a Sustaining Donor This September<\/em><\/h2>\n<p><span>Between the reemergence of right-wing red-baiting and Donald Trump\u2019s use of the chilling National Security Presidential Memorandum\u20137 to criminalize left political organizing, we\u2019re seeing McCarthyism reborn before our eyes. <\/p>\n<p><\/span><span>This assault on democracy cannot be ignored or wished away. Resisting it requires bravery in the face of threats and repression, a steadfast commitment to the truth, and the unwavering belief that we can\u2014and will\u2014overcome this darkness.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span>We must have an independent media that sets the record straight, unearths corruption and abuses of power, and advances a politics of justice and dignity for all if we\u2019re to win this fight.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span>That\u2019s why I\u2019m writing to you today.<\/span><b> This September, <\/b><b><i>The Nation <\/i><\/b><b>needs to add 100 monthly donors to sustain our progressive journalism. <\/b><span>Your contribution makes the next investigative report, the next truth-speaking column, and the next pathbreaking essay all possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span>I hope you\u2019ll support our work with a recurring donation today. If you donate $10 or more a month, we\u2019ll send you a brand new \u201cHands Off the Free Press!\u201d sticker to recognise your commitment to our cause. Please, donate today.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Onward,<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span>Katrina vanden Heuvel<br \/><\/span><span>Editor and Publisher, <\/span><i><span>The Nation<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span> Katrina vanden Heuvel<svg>\n<\/svg><br \/>\n<\/span>Katrina vanden Heuvel is editor and publisher of <em>The Nation<\/em>, America\u2019s leading source of progressive politics and culture. An expert on international affairs and US politics, she is an award-winning columnist and frequent contributor to <em>The Guardian<\/em>. Vanden Heuvel is the author of several books, including <em>The Change I Believe In: Fighting for Progress in the Age of Obama<\/em>, and co-author (with Stephen F. Cohen) of <em>Voices of Glasnost: Interviews with Gorbachev\u2019s Reformers<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=1072\">Accountability for the Gaza Genocide Can\u2019t Focus on Netanyahu Alone<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n<\/div>\n<p><input\/><br \/>\n<input\/><br \/>\n<\/footer>\n<\/article>\n<p>Ad Policy<br \/>\n<!-- <a class=\"inifiniteLoader\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/images\/new_infi_loader.gif\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a> -->\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Nation Magazine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>This Week in \u2018Nation\u2019 History: The Long Battle for Progressive, Humane Immigration Reform - 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