Tomás Jiménez presentation on 'Nation of Immigrants' for Phi Beta Kappa

Phi Beta Kappa hosted a presentation by Tomás R. Jiménez examining the idea of the United States as a “nation of immigrants.” 

Jiménez argued that having a large immigrant population does not necessarily make a country a “nation of immigrants.” Rather, the idea reflects a national narrative — a story a country tells about itself and who belongs within it. Drawing on immigration laws, political rhetoric and historical school textbooks, Jiménez traced changing American attitudes toward immigrants, from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the restrictive Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 to a significant shift in attitudes during the 1950s and 1960s. He pointed to John F. Kennedy’s 1958 essay, A Nation of Immigrants, as an important moment in the development of the modern narrative.

Jiménez concluded by examining the growing partisan divide over immigration since the early 2000s and what it may mean for the country’s understanding of itself today. His central argument was that the identity of a “nation of immigrants” depends on more than the number of immigrants living in a country. It also depends on a shared national story about immigration and its place in American life.

Jiménez is the Joan B. Ford Professor in the Department of Sociology and the founding director of Stanford’s Institute for Advancing Just Societies.