White Borders

July 15, 2021
A critical examination of U.S. immigration policies across the centuries as instruments of racism. Jones, a professor of geography and environment in Hawaii, reveals that that island state, as well as Puerto Rico, were long excluded from allowing immigrants precisely because both "had large nonwhite citizen populations." This exclusion followed from a 19th-century policy, born of Jeffersonian tenets at the birth of the republic, that held that the notion of all men being equal applied to White men only, with only "a free white person" eligible for citizenship. Such convictions were common in Jefferson's day--and in Trump's. As Jones writes, Reince Priebus, then serving as Republican National Committee chair, warned Trump to tone down his racism during the 2016 campaign "because it could tarnish all of the Republicans running for president," to which Trump responded by doubling down on his anti-Mexican and then anti-Muslim rhetoric. Jones engages in good investigative journalism to chase down the sources of Trumpthink, given that Trump has never had an original idea of his own, in a complex and "carefully orchestrated effort" to place the racist, exclusionary politics of a century past (pitched largely at excluding Asians from coming to the U.S.) at the center of a new sort of mainstream politics feeding a fearful base. This effort involved the feeding of millions of dollars to anti-immigration groups--$63 million from one donor alone. These groups exalted ideas by the likes of a Michigan ophthalmologist named John Tanton, who asserted that "for European-American society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority." By this incisive account, that concept was red meat for the likes of Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, the latter of whom cut his teeth on the racist politics of former Trump ally Jeff Sessions. The author's ability to connect the dots is impressive--and depressing, since the politics of ethnic hatred persist.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from October 1, 2021

Jones (geography and environment, Univ. of Hawai'i; Violent Borders) delivers a concise history of American immigration policy, from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to the Trump era. The book peels back the surface of American policies that restricted immigration, and analyzes the underlying impulses and biases. Jones argues that prejudice and white supremacy are at the root of policies limiting entry into the United States. Individual states created the first immigration restrictions, Jones adeptly explains, while the federal government was only empowered to grant citizenship rights; it would take subsequent Supreme Court rulings to shift immigration policymaking to the federal government. Jones does an excellent job simplifying these Supreme Court rulings and explaining how the laws were enacted. He carefully investigates contemporary private companies that wield their political power and pour considerable funds into efforts to block immigration reform. He also identifies tangible relationships (historical and/or contemporary) between a number of American companies and white supremacist organizations. VERDICT A highly recommended, in-depth history of migration that accounts for the lives affected by American border policing and immigration restrictions.--Jacob Sherman, Univ. of Texas, San Antonio

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.