The Problem With Calling the U.S. a 'Nation of Immigrants'

As President Trump faces yet another challenge to the immigration restrictions he has tried to implement since the first month of his term in office, opponents of his efforts might see a judge’s blocking the restrictions as a victory for an idea that has been expressed repeatedly in the weeks since the original travel ban was issued: that such an order is antithetical to the United States’ identity as a nation of immigrants.
That concept of a “nation of immigrants” has been invoked since the 1950s to advance the notion of the United States as a land of opportunity, founded and built by immigrants. This narrative, according to historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, emerged within the context “of the social justice activism of the period” (i.e. the Civil Rights Movement), which was instrumental in raising moral consciousness about an immigration system that banned certain groups from entering the U.S. solely on the bases of race. As Dunbar-Ortiz noted, "What emerged to replace the liberal melting pot idea and the nationalist triumphal interpretation of the 'greatest country on earth and in history,' was the 'nation of immigrants' story."

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