Immigration Article of the Day: Indigenous Immigration Control by Cori Alonso-Yoder

Indigenous Immigration Control by Cori Alonso-Yoder

Abstract
Tensions between federal and local policies on immigration dominate the headlines. From ending birthright citizenship, to local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, the debates echo the earliest days of immigration law when the states and federal government grappled to determine who would define membership. In the late nineteenth century, the Supreme Court determined immigration policy fell within the exclusive purview of the federal government. Racial considerations were key to the development of this federalized immigration system. Contemporaneous legal developments also justified a policy of territorial expansion, building a U.S. overseas empire that remains in place today. Millions of Americans in the U.S. territories live under legal frameworks that vary widely from the system of law governing the states. Stunningly, this includes a system of immigration regulation that defies the immigration federalism considered central to U.S. immigration doctrine: For well over 100 years, the U.S. territory of American Samoa has retained sole control over its system of immigration. Remarkably, it has done so with the complete acquiescence of the federal government. From American Samoa's lack of birthright U.S. citizenship to broad restrictions on immigration, the territory's system bears little resemblance to federal immigration law. This article offers the first comprehensive analysis of Samoan immigration and nationality law, demonstrating how its anomalous approach developed around questions of race, ethnicity, and indigeneity. While some have praised the restrictive system as justifying greater limitations on entry into the U.S. mainland, Samoan immigration control is instead a unique example of self-governance created to resist settlercolonialism.