EPISODE #3:
Building the Wall

The United States’ first efforts to limit immigration began by targeting Chinese who were viewed as racially incompatible and incapable of participating in a White, democratic society. Selectively restricting immigrants was a new undertaking for the federal government and so the foundations of US immigration policies, enforcement measures, and the very nature of government authority to regulate immigration were laid out in the singling out of Chinese for near exclusion. As the Supreme Court cases of Chy Lung v. Freeman and Wong Kim Ark v. US illustrate, Chinese fought against the onset of discriminatory laws by hiring lawyers and invoking conditions from the US Constitution. Although Chinese won both these cases, immigration restrictions and enforcement measures steadily increased and have become standard aspects of international travel today.    

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