Dislike of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange within the United States
Cartoon fromPuck, August 9, 1899 byJ. S. Pughe.Uncle Sam sees hyphenated voters and asks, "Why should I let these freaks cast whole ballots when they are only half Americans?"
Xenophobia in the United States is the fear or hatred of any cultural group in theUnited States that is perceived as being foreign or strange or un-American. It expresses a conflict between an ingroup and an outgroup and may manifest as suspicion by one of the other's activities, and beliefs and goals. It includes a desire to eliminate their presence, and fear of losing national, ethnic, or racial identity and is often closely linked toracism anddiscrimination.[1]
TheKnow Nothing party was anativist political party in the mid-1850s. It carried many state and local elections in 1854-1855, but failed to pass major laws and suddenly collapsed.[2][3]
Know Nothing agitators proclaimed that a "Romanist" conspiracy headed by the Pope in Rome was in control of Catholic immigrants. The goal was to subvert civil andreligious liberty and destroy Protestantism. In response it was urgent to politically organize native-born Protestants. The Know Nothing movement emphasized that Irish Catholic priests and bishops would control a large bloc of voters in theDemocratic Party.[4]Henry Winter Davis, an active Know-Nothing, was elected on the American Party ticket to Congress from Maryland. He told Congress in late 1856 that the un-American Irish Catholic immigrants were to blame for the recent election of DemocratJames Buchanan as president, stating:[5]
The recent election has developed in an aggravated form every evil against which the American party protested. Foreign allies have decided the government of the country -- men naturalized in thousands on the eve of the election. Again in the fierce struggle for supremacy, men have forgotten the ban which the Republic puts on the intrusion of religious influence on the political arena. These influences have brought vast multitudes of foreign-born citizens to the polls, ignorant of American interests, without American feelings, influenced by foreign sympathies, to vote on American affairs; and those votes have, in point of fact, accomplished the present result.
In the South, the party did not emphasize anti-Catholicism but instead attacked corrupt Democratic politicians and filled the vacuum caused by the collapse of the Whig Party. The ideology and influence lasted only one or two years before it disintegrated due to weak and inexperienced elected officials who were unable to pass legislation, and a deep split over the issue of slavery.[2]
Comparison of European immigrants, represented in the left panel as virtues, while Chinese immigrants are represented by a serpent representing maladies,The Wasp (San Francisco), Vol. 7, 1881
In the 1870s and 1880s in theWestern states, ethnic Whites especiallyIrish Americans targeted violence against Chinese workers, driving them out of smaller towns. They relocated into districts of a few larger cities called "Chinatowns."[6]Denis Kearney, an immigrant from Ireland, led a mass movement in San Francisco in the 1870s that incited racist attacks on the Chinese there and threatened public officials and railroad owners.[7] TheChinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first of many nativist acts of Congress which attempted to limit the flow of immigrants into the U.S.. The Chinese responded to it by filing false claims of American birth, enabling thousands of them to immigrate to California.[8] The exclusion of the Chinese caused the western railroads to begin importing Mexican railroad workers in greater numbers ("traqueros").[9] In 1943 when China was an ally against Japan, the restrictions were repealed and Chinese could become citizens.[10]
Attacks on the Japanese in the Western U.S., echoing the dreadedYellow Peril became increasingly xenophobic after the unexpected Japanese triumph over the supposedly powerfulRussian Empire in theRusso-Japanese War of 1904-1905. In October, 1906, the San Francisco Board of Education passed a regulation whereby children of Japanese descent would be required to attend racially segregated and separate schools. At the time, Japanese immigrants made up 1% of the state's population; many of them had come under the treaty in 1894 which had assured free immigration from Japan. In 1907,nativists rioted up and down the West Coast demanding exclusion of Japanese immigrants and imposition of segregated schools for Caucasian and Japanese students.
TheCalifornia Alien Land Law of 1913 was specifically created to prevent land ownership among Japanese citizens who were residing in the state of California. In 1918 courts ruled that American-born children had the right to own land. California proceeded to strengthen its Alien land law in 1920 and 1923 and other states followed.[11]
According toGary Y. Okihiro, the Japanese government subsidized Japanese writers in America especiallyKiyoshi Kawakami andYamato Ichihashi to refute the hostile stereotypes and establish a favorable image of Japanese in the American mind. Thus Kawakami's books especiallyAsia at the Door (1914) andThe Real Japanese Question (1921) tried to refute the false accusations. The publicists confronted the main allegations regarding lack of assimilation, and boasted of the positive Japanese contributions to American economy and society, especially in Hawaii and California.[12]
TheEmergency Quota Act, also known as the Emergency Immigration Act of 1921, the Immigration Restriction Act of 1921, the Per Centum Law, and the Johnson Quota Act (ch. 8, 42 Stat.5 of May 19, 1921), was formulated mainly in response to the large influx ofSouthern andEastern Europeans and restricted their immigration to the United States. Although intended as temporary legislation, it "proved, in the long run, the most important turning-point in American immigration policy"[17] because it added two new features to American immigration law: numerical limits on immigration and the use of a quota system for establishing those limits, which came to be known as theNational Origins Formula.
The Emergency Quota Act restricted the number of immigrants admitted from any country annually to 3% of the number of residents from that country living in the United States as of the1910 Census.[18] That meant that people fromNorthern andWestern Europe had a higher quota and were more likely to be admitted to the US than those fromEastern orSouthern Europe or from non-European countries.
Ananti-immigrant World War II-style propaganda poster posted byHomeland Security on June 11, 2025, telling readers to report "foreign invaders" toICE that was previously posted by far-right accounts.[19]
Immigration policy, includingillegal immigration to the United States, was a signature issue of PresidentDonald Trump'spresidential campaign, and his proposed reforms and remarks about this issue generated much publicity.[20][21] Trump has repeatedly said that illegal immigrants are criminals.[22][23] Critics have argued that there is an increasing amount of evidence that immigration does not correlate with higher crime rates.[23]
A hallmark promise of his campaign was the construction of much expandedMexico–United States border wall on theUnited States–Mexico border and to force Mexico to pay for the wall. Trump has also expressed support for a variety of "limits on legal immigration and guest-worker visas",[21][24] including a pause on grantinggreen cards, which Trump says will lower immigration levels to historical averages.[25]
As president, Trump imposed atravel ban that prohibited issuing visas to citizens of seven largely-Muslim countries expanded to thirteen in 2020. In response to legal challenges he revised the ban twice, with histhird version being upheld by the Supreme Court in June 2018.[26]
He attempted to end theDeferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, but a legal injunction has allowed the policy to continue while the matter is the subject of legal challenge. He imposed a "zero tolerance" policy to require the arrest of anyone caught illegally crossing the border, which resulted inseparating children from their families.[27]
On January 30, 2018, Trump outlined his administration's four pillars for immigration reform: (1) a path to citizenship forDREAMers; (2) increased border security funding; (3) ending thediversity visa lottery; and (4) restrictions onfamily-based immigration.[28]
Trump's position was strongly supported by conservative voters. Studies found the higher voters' xenophobia was, the higher was their support for political violence.[29][30]
A network of more than 300 US-basedcivil rights and human rights organizations stated in a 2010 report that "Discrimination permeates all aspects of life in the United States, and it extends to allcommunities of color."[31] Discrimination against racial, ethnic, and religious minorities is widely acknowledged, especially in the case ofIndians,Muslims,Sikhs as well as other ethnic groups.
Members of every major American ethnic and religious minority group have perceived discrimination in their dealings with members of other minority racial and religious groups. PhilosopherCornel West has stated that "racism is an integral element within the very fabric of American culture and society. It is embedded in the country's first collective definition, enunciated in its subsequent laws, and imbued in its dominant way of life."[32]
A 2019 survey by thePew Research Center suggested that 76% of black and Asian respondents had experienced some form of discrimination, at least from time to time.[33] Studies fromPNAS andNature have found that during traffic stops, officers spoke to black men in a less respectful tone than they did to white men and that black drivers are more likely to be pulled over and searched by police than white drivers.[34] Black people are also reportedlyoverrepresented as criminals in the media.[35] In 2020 theCOVID-19 epidemic was often blamed on China, leading to attacks on Chinese Americans.[36] This represents a continuation of xenophobic attacks on Chinese Americans for 150 years.[37]
^The official WRA record from 1946 states it was 120,000 people. SeeWar Relocation Authority (1946).The Evacuated People: A Quantitative Study. p. 8.Archived from the original on 2021-02-24. Retrieved2023-04-29.. Japanese Americans that were 1/16th or less were excluded from being sent to the camps but above that was considered a threat to the United States. This number does not include people held in other camps such as those which were run by the DoJ or the Army. Other sources may give numbers which are slightly more or less than 120,000.
^Everett Marko, David (2019). "Nevertheless, They Persist: American and European Muslim Immigrants in the Era of Trump".Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs.39 (2):246–258.doi:10.1080/13602004.2019.1620006.S2CID195563923.
^Piazza, James; Van Doren, Natalia (2023). "It's About Hate: Approval of Donald Trump, Racism, Xenophobia and Support for Political Violence".American Politics Research.51 (3):299–314.doi:10.1177/1532673X221131561.PMID40787175.S2CID252774439.
Awan, Muhammad Safeer. "Global terror and the rise of xenophobia/Islamophobia: An analysis of American cultural production since September 11."Islamic Studies (2010): 521–537. online[permanent dead link]
Baker, Joseph O., David Cañarte, and L. Edward Day. "Race, xenophobia, and punitiveness among the American public."Sociological Quarterly 59.3 (2018): 363–383.onlineArchived 2023-05-26 at theWayback Machine
Bennett, David H.The Party of Fear: The American Far Right from Nativism to the Militia Movement (U of North Carolina Press, 1988).excerpt
Billington, Ray Allen.The Protestant Crusade: 1800-1860 (1938)online
Clermont, Kevin M., and Theodore Eisenberg. "Xenophilia in American Courts"Harvard Law Review 109 (1996) 1120–1143. online DOI: 10.2307/1342264 Argues xenophobia is NOT rampant in American courts; foreigners more often win than Americans. ("Xenophiolia" means being friendly toward foreigners.)
Finzsch, Norbert, and Dietmar Schirmer, eds.Identity and intolerance: nationalism, racism, and xenophobia in Germany and the United States (Cambridge UP, 2002) 16 essays by scholars.
FitzGerald, David Scott, and David Cook-Martín.Culling the Masses: The Democratic Origins of Racist Immigration Policy in the Americas (Harvard UP, 2014)excerpt
Goodman, Adam.The Deportation Machine: America's Long History of Expelling Immigrants (Princeton UP, 2020)excerptArchived 2022-11-18 at theWayback Machine
Higham, John.Strangers in the land: Patterns of American nativism, 1860-1925 (1955), highly influential classiconline
Kenny, Kevin. "Mobility and Sovereignty: The Nineteenth-Century Origins of Immigration Restriction."Journal of American History 109.2 (2022): 284-297.https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jaac233
Lee, Erika. "America first, immigrants last: American xenophobia then and now."Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 19.1 (2020): 3–18.online
Lee, Erika. "Americans Must Rule America: Xenophobia in the United States."Social Research 88.4 (2021): 795-825.
Lee, Erika.America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States (2019). The major scholarly history;excerpt; also seeonline reviewArchived 2022-11-18 at theWayback Machine
Lee, Erika.At America's Gates: Chinese Immigration during the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943 (2003).
Lipset, Seymour M., and Earl Raab.The Politics of Unreason: Right-Wing Extremism in America, 1790–1970 (1970).online
Makari, George.Of Fear and Strangers: A History of Xenophobia (2021), scholarly history focused on US and Europe;excerpt
Oxx, Katie.The nativist movement in America: religious conflict in the 19th century (Routledge, 2013).excerptArchived 2022-06-22 at theWayback Machine
Pruitt, Nicholas T.Open Hearts, Closed Doors: Immigration Reform and the Waning of Mainline Protestantism (NYU Press, 2021).
Ullah, Inayat, and Kulsoom Shahzor. "Cultural (Mis) Appropriation, Ideological Essentialism and Language: Analysis of Stereotyping in Hollywood Movie."International Journal of English Linguistics 6.7 (2017): 171–177.online
Bergquist, James M. "The Concept of Nativism in Historical Study Since" Strangers in the Land".American Jewish History 76.2 (1986): 125–141.onlineArchived 2022-11-18 at theWayback Machine
Higham, John. "Instead of a Sequel, or How I Lost My Subject."Reviews in American History 28.2 (2000): 327-339.online
Nugent, Walter.The tolerant populists: Kansas populism and nativism (U of Chicago Press, 2013). Rejects the argument ofRichard Hofstadter that Populists were xenophobic
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