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A2 UP FRONT
Tuesday 10 January 2023
U.S. law based on anti-Latino racism fuels immigration fight

Continued from Front said, was a “proud white
supremacist” who advo-
“When you’ve been work- cated for segregation and
ing in law for as long as I defended lynching. “That
have, you know that just alone requires some reck-
because you’re legally right oning with.”
doesn’t mean you always Nearly a century later, the
win,” she said. “There’s a lot Justice Department has
of forces at work in making conceded that the 1929
legal decisions.” law was motivated by rac-
The potentially precedent- ism. But in oral arguments
setting case has been in in early December before
legal limbo for more than the 9th Circuit, an attorney
a year as a federal court for the U.S. government ar-
in California considers the gued later revisions — like
Justice Department’s ap- Section 1326 — made it
peal defending the law. constitutional.
Despite the ongoing battle Du’s ruling, however, points
in the 9th Circuit Court of out that the 1952 revision
Appeals, the Nevada case establishing Section 1326
has shined a national spot- had adopted language
light on the little-known his- “word for word” from the
tory of Section 1326. In this photo provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, people who’ve been taken into 1929 legislation, and since
“It really is an ill-understood custody related to cases of illegal entry into the United States, sit in one of the cages at a facility then, penalties — that
law when you think about in McAllen, Texas, on June 17, 2018. range from prison time to
the degree to which it is Associated Press permanent deportation
based on explicitly racist — have stiffened at least
and white supremacist ide- “a time when the Ku Klux acted, establishing a cap ployers who had come to five times. Justice Depart-
ology,” said Sirine Shebaya, Klan was reborn, Jim Crow on how many immigrants rely heavily on cheap labor ment attorneys have also
executive director of the came of age, and public could enter the U.S. under from Mexico. conceded that Section
nonprofit National Immigra- intellectuals preached the a system that reserved 96% But before the decade’s 1326 “bears more heavily
tion Project. science of eugenics.” of slots for European immi- end, South Carolina Sen. on Mexican and Latinx in-
Section 1326, along with its Many of the key elements grants and included a total Coleman Livingston Blease dividuals,” but argued the
misdemeanor counterpart that formed the legal de- ban on Asian immigrants. would orchestrate a new disparity is “a product of
Section 1325, which crimi- fense now being consid- Exempt from that system, deal with employers that geography, not discrimina-
nalizes unauthorized entry, ered by the 9th Circuit however, were immigrants led to the Undesirable tion,” as well as “a feature
was enacted by Congress came from Hernandez’s from the Western Hemi- Aliens Act of 1929. of Mexico’s proximity to the
in 1952. But the law’s origins findings on Section 1326’s sphere, including Mexi- Under this new law, unau- United States, the history
can be traced back a cen- discriminatory background. co. Hernandez, who was thorized entry into the U.S. of Mexican employment
tury to the 1920s — a de- With Congress’ sights in the called as an expert witness became illegal, allowing patterns, and other socio-
cade described by UCLA 1920s set on legislation that in the Nevada case, said Congress to limit immigra- political and economic
history professor and lead- would block “undesirable” the exception came as a tion from Mexico without factors that drive migration
ing Section 1326 researcher immigration, the National compromise between na- implementing an outright from Mexico to the United
Kelly Lytle Hernandez as Origins Act of 1924 was en- tivist lawmakers and em- ban. Blease, Hernandez States.”q

U.S. Postal Service touts performance

during 2022 election

themselves,” said Amber 2020 presidential election government mail division to
McReynolds, chair of the in which a record-setting deal with election matters.
Postal Service Board of number of ballots were “We take great pride in the
Governors Election Mail cast. role our organization plays
Committee. Postmaster General Louis in the vote-by-mail pro-
By the end of the Dec. 6 DeJoy was criticized that cess,”
Georgia Senate runoff, the year for restricting over- DeJoy said Monday in a
Postal Service had deliv- time, ending the longtime statement. “The American
ered 54.4 million ballots to practice of late deliver- people can continue to
and from voters, officials ies and dismantling some feel confident in using the
said. They added that the sorting machines ahead of U.S. mail to fulfill their demo-
number could be even the election, and a federal cratic duty.”
A USPS employee works outside post office in Wheeling, Ill., higher because the report judge faulted him for failing For the midterm election,
Dec. 3, 2021.
Associated Press doesn’t take into account to get an advisory opinion 98.96% of general election
ballots that were diverted from the Postal Regulatory ballots were delivered from
WASHINGTON (AP) — The ficials said Monday. from the normal flow to ac- Commission before imple- voters to election officials
U.S. Postal Service delivered The Postal Service’s post- celerate delivery and bal- menting some of those within three days — besting
more than 54 million ballots election analysis showed lots that were not properly changes. the 2020 performance by
for the midterm election, that on average it took identified. But there were no such about 1 percentage point
with nearly 99% of ballots under two days to deliver The Postal Service was complaints in 2022. And — and 99.93% were deliv-
delivered to election offi- completed ballots. dogged by backlogs and the Postal Service created ered within seven days, the
cials within three days, of- “These results speak for questions ahead of the a permanent election and report said. q