Monthly Journal: The Johnson-Reed Act And Boundary Creation

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November 3, 2017
Introduction
In the book titled Impossible subjects: Illegal aliens and the making of modern America, the author Mae Ngai first discussed existing immigration practices in America even before the inception of The Johnson-Reed Act of 1924. After providing an overview, Ngai started Chapter one, entitled The Johnson-Reed act of 1924 and the Reconstruction of Race in Immigration Law, and discussed it using a historical analytical approach. According to her, before the law was passed, immigration to America was highly supported by the government itself because it serves as a catalyst for economic growth through additional capital and increase in manpower (17). Nonetheless, as immigration continued to grow and place certain risks for the government, the Johnson-Reed Immigration Act of 1924 was vetoed by the government in order to reduce the number of immigrants, which are continuously increasing in numbers (Ngai, 17). However, despite the seeming “good intentions” of the state in doing so, what they didn’t realize is that this act of placing “quotas” that is rooted from national origins would lead to “making of racial boundaries of citizenship” (Ngai, 17). In line with this article written by Ngai, this article would provide an analysis of her work and the arguments included there. In the succeeding chapter, the gaps of knowledge would also be addressed by asking the relevant questions that are left unanswered as well as providing a response to Ngai’s arguments. Nonetheless, in relation to our previous discussions about Marxism, I believe that Ngai’s analysis of The Johnson-Reed Act is accurate in the sense that it creates a “relations of production”, which then created a persisting type of “social consciousness” (Marx, 91), which then created this “racial boundaries of citizenship” (Ngai, 17).
The Johnson-Reed Act and Boundary Creation
In her article, Ngai argued that a nation’s concept of “sovereignty” is one of the strongest factors that influence the creation of policies regarding immigration policies. As exemplified today, countries limit the number of immigrants that could go into their territory based on a risks assessment of social, economic, political, and even environmental reasons, among others. According to Ngai, the reason for this is that in international relationships between countries, immigration is almost always viewed as risks towards the encroachment and aggression of other countries to one’s nation, through a different number of possible factors. One example of this as discussed in her article is the case of the Yeoman farmers. The Yeoman farmers were originally Japanese people, which they immigrated to the United States but continued their traditions to be able to develop their economic roots. However, upon immigration, it was said that “nativists rejected their endeavors as a foreign conspiracy to take California from white people” (p. 39). In Ngai’s analysis of this situation, she discussed how this move was not necessarily placed to simply maintain the country’s sov...