In the second episode of The Human Government, our host takes us down a rabbit hole of research to better understand the history of immigration policy in the U.S.. We find one particularly helpful resource that chronicles policies from 1790-2014, matching them with a trend line graph that is helpful for understanding the impacts of various policies. Packed densely with information, dates, and details, this rabbit hole is broken into two parts. Part 1 details policies from 1790-1953 and Part 2 picks up in the 1960s.

This episode was recorded in the early morning of October 5, 2025 but was not published until October 9th, 2025. It was edited for length (and to remove the hosts side quest comments). Below, listeners can find links to all of the websites the host navigated to during this research rabbit hole.

Sources of information:

Mapping Inequality, Redlining in New Deal America (Richmond.edu)

⁠https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/map/IL/Chicago/area_descriptions#loc=15/41.6847/-87.473⁠

How U.S. immigration laws and rules have changed through history (pewresearch.org)

⁠https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/09/30/how-u-s-immigration-laws-and-rules-have-changed-through-history/ ⁠

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, History (USCIS.gov)

⁠https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/our-history⁠

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol Overview (CBP.gov)

⁠https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/along-us-borders/overview⁠