How can a country built by immigrants be so sceptical of immigrants?
"People are very proud of their immigrant heritage, but at the same time very anti-immigrant," says a researcher.
Federal agents and local police stand guard in front of an ICE immigration centre in Chicago. Protesters are kept at a distance, tear-gassed, or arrested.(Photo: Nam Y. Huh / AP Photo / NTB)
Two more US cities have seen the arrival of federal forces. Armed agents from the immigration authority, ICE, are conducting raids in Chicago and Portland. The National Guard has been deployed to assist them.
Local politicians and citizens are protesting. They are being threatened with imprisonment.
President Donald Trump calls his campaign a war on illegal immigration, crime, and drugs. He claims that undocumented immigrants are responsible for widespread violence, murder, and drug trafficking, and that they make cities unsafe for ordinary citizens.
There are 340 million people living in the US. Only a small percentage are Native Americans; the rest descend from immigrants that left their homelands to start anew in a foreign country.
How can a country populated by immigrants be so sceptical of immigration?
We asked two American researchers.
"People are very proud of their immigrant heritage, but very anti-immigrant at the same time. These two ideas live very comfortably in people's heads. And I think it's always been that way," says Michele Waslin.
She is an immigration researcher at the University of Minnesota.
This woman was arrested in New York in September by ICE agents. Some are detained on the street, others at work, or when they appear for a routine appointment at the local immigration office.(Photo: David Dee Delgado / Reuters / NTB)
Science Norway has interviewed researchers in the US about the current political situation. The reporting trip has been made possible through support from the Fritt Ord Foundation. Science Norway has full editorial freedom.
Distrust of the most recent arrivals
American scepticism towards immigrants is far from new.
Benjamin Franklin is one of the founding fathers of the United States.
"He was very worried that German immigrants were going to try to Germanise the new nation," says Waslin.
In the mid-1800s, Chinese workers came to build the railroads. Their presence sparked public anxiety. Many feared that immigrants were taking American jobs. In 1882, almost all immigration from China was banned.
The Irish started to come in large numbers. They were discriminated against because they were poor and Catholic, according to Waslin.
Norwegian immigrants arrived around the same time. They also faced scepticism –they were rural and poor, but at least Protestant.
Michele Waslin works at a research centre for immigration history at the University of Minnesota. Her family came from Italy and Eastern Europe several generations ago.(Photo: Nina Kristiansen)
They just showed up
Waslin herself descends from Italian and Eastern European immigrants once labelled as criminals.
Annonse
"Many Americans say that their families came 'the right way.' But my family would never have gotten in under today's system. They got on a boat and showed up, and nobody asked them any questions," says Waslin.
Immigrants in the 1800s and early 1900s entered the US without applications, visas, or work permits. 37 million people arrived during this period.
By modern standards, they would be considered undocumented, according to Kevin Kenny, an immigration researcher at New York University.
Kevin Kenny researches immigration at New York University. He himself immigrated from Ireland. "Many people become immigrants by accident, like me. I came to work, but ended up staying."(Photo: Anders Moen Kaste)
Record-level immigration
Immigration was first restricted in 1924.
"Before that, there was in effect
no concept of illegal immigrants," says Kenny.
The new law introduced quotas limiting arrivals from each country, favouring Northern and Western Europeans.
"I can give you
countless examples of illiberal tradition in American history from which today's practise is not an aberration," says Kenny.
Still, today’s situation looks different.
53 million born in another country
This year, immigration has reached a new record. 15 per cent of the US population are foreign-born.
But the population has grown since then, so the number of immigrants today is far higher than back then.
In 2025, 53 million people in the US are born abroad.
Where the immigrants come from has also changed dramatically.
A hundred years ago, 90 per cent of immigrants came from Europe. Today, that number is less than 10 per cent.
"Now, 45 per cent come from Asia and 45 per cent from Latin America. This is the first genuinely global wave of immigration in American history," says Kenny.
Many are frightened
The change stems from a 1965 reform that still shapes immigration policy today. Country quotas were replaced with a system focused on family reunions and professional skills. In addition come the refugees.
People experience the number and diversity of today's immigrants differently, according to Michele Waslin.
"For me, it's exciting. For others, it's scary. That's
what all this boils down to ," she says.
In the past, immigration was concentrated in California, Florida, New York, and a few other states. Now, it's spread across the entire country.
"People all over the country are now seeing changes in their own neighbourhoods," says Waslin.
Want to promote decency
In Northfield, Minnesota, two residents are unhappy about what’s happening in America today.
Jerri Hurlbutt and Tom Drucker are part of the organizaton The Beacon, whose members stand on street corners across the country every Thursday.
"We want to promote sanity, humanity, compassion, and basic values of decency," says Hurlbutt.
Sometimes, they face pushback.
From the left: Jerri Hurlbutt and Tom Drucker protest every Thursday afternoon against current immigration policies.(Photo: Nina Kristiansen)
"A man came up and said that
immigrants were taking money away from his social security. Total fiction. But he wouldn't listen and stomped off. Mostly, though, we get a lot of support," says Hurlbutt.
Immigrants, in particular, thank them.
"They're very afraid right now. We don't encourage them to join us, because we don't want them to endanger themselves," she says.
"We try to stay positive and brave," she adds.
A simple explanation
According to Kevin Kenny, the root of anti-immigrant sentiments is scapegoating immigrants to give a simple answer to a complex problem.
"People want a simple explanation for why their lives aren't going the way they hoped," he says.
Kenny believes economic inequality is the true source of the problem.
"There are literally tens of millions of people in the US whose path towards
social mobility is blocked. Immigrants become scapegoats," he explains.
An immigrant is arrested inside an immigration court in New York on September 18.(Photo: David Dee Delgado / Reuters / NTB)
Deported after 30 years
Harjit Kaur, 73, was recently arrested and deported to India after living in California for more than 30 years, reports the BBC. She had worked as a seamstress for two decades.
Sergio Garcia, 65, was deported to Mexico after 36 years in Texas, according to the Texas Tribune. He ran a restaurant for 30 years, catering for the White House at times.
Both leave behind families who are American citizens. Both lived illegally in the US after years of trying to obtain legal residency. They were illegal immigrants.
There are said to be around 11 million of them in the US today. Some, like Kaur and Garcia, stayed after their permits expired. Others crossed the border without being detected.
A protester is arrested by federal agents outside an ICE centre in Portland, Oregon, on October 2.(Photo: Jenny Kane / AP Photo / NTB)
America still needs workers
The high number of undocumented immigrants is rooted in the 1965 immigration reform, according to Kevin Kenny.
"Before then, contract workers could come here to work temporarily. When that program was terminated, the demand for labour remained stable. The inevitable
result is undocumented immigration," says Kenny.
More than half of all undocumented immigrants have lived in the US for over ten years. 65 per cent are employed, a higher rate than among native-born Americans, according to congress.gov.
But they earn less and have no rights.
Room for immigrants
Waslin believes the deportations will hit several industries hard.
"We'll see it in construction, care for the elderly, and landscaping," she says.
"If all undocumented immigrants were deported, large sectors of the economy, especially in California, would collapse," says Kenny.
He believes there is plenty of room for immigrants in American society.
"There's both physical and economic space for them. Immigrants contribute to economic growth," says Kenny.
As a historian, he knows anti-immigrant sentiment has always existed in America, but he believes the current climate is particularly alarming.
"The organised backlash against immigration is worse than I have ever seen before," says Kenny.
