The current administration is far from the only one hat has taken a hard line on immigration.
One of the earliest examples is probably the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which declared that Chinese immigrants were ineligible for naturalization. The act was not repealed until 1943, just after we started the Japanese internet project.
https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/chinese-exclusion-act-1882
Executive order 9066 established the policy of Japanese internment in 1942, and it lasted until 1945:
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/japanese-american-relocation
Today marks the anniversary of yet another stab at limiting immigration.
On this day in 1924, president Calvin Coolidge signed the Immigration Act of 1924.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/coolidge-signs-stringent-immigration-law
Many Americans saw the enormous influx of largely unskilled, uneducated immigrants during the early 1900s as causing unfair competition for jobs and land.
The Japanese government viewed the American law as an insult, and protested by declaring May 26 a national day of humiliation in Japan. The law fanned anti-American sentiment in Japan, inspiring a Japanese citizen to commit suicide outside the American embassy in Tokyo in protest.? As a result, the seeds of WWII were actually sown in 1924.
Under the new law, immigration remained open to those with a college education and/or special skills, but entry was denied to Mexicans, and disproportionately to Eastern and Southern Europeans and Japanese. At the same time, the legislation allowed for more immigration from Northern European nations such as Britain, Ireland and Scandinavian countries.
Remember Operation Wetback?
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Operation-Wetback
Trump's latest immigration plan gives preference to people with a college education and/or special skills, which ignores that fact that we REALLY need a lot more unskilled immigrants picking our lettuce crops, which are rotting in the field.
When Trump was criticizing the "shit hole" countries, he was wondering why we did not get more immigrants from Norway. He likely wouldn't understand that people from Norway now consider the United States to be a "shit hole country" now that he is president, and that more people immigrate from here to Norway than the reverse. Ironically enough, Norway was once considered to be a "shit hole" country.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/01/12/577673191/trump-wishes-we-had-more-immigrants-from-norway-turns-out-we-once-did
The year that Coolidge signed the Immigration Act also happened to be one of the peak years for the KKK in America. At its peak in the 1920's, 15% of our population (around 5 million men) belonged to the KKK. One of them was Fred Trump.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan
Presidents McKinley, Wilson, Harding, and Truman were also members.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Operation-Wetback
Wilson was known as a virulent racist and actually helped Klan membership skyrocket by providing screenings of The Clansman and Birth of a Nation for members of his Cabinet, Congress, and the Supreme Court.
Calvin Coolidge was a well known and active Klan member who allowed cross lightings on the Capital steps and also reviewed the giant Klan parades of 1925 and 1926 that were held in Washington D.C..
History of the Democratic Party on their website conveniently leaves out party history from 1848 to 1900, avoiding publication of information related to the party’s racist roots. Understanding the past is a vital part of not repeating mistakes in the future, and