How Racism Affects Immigrants at the US-Mexican Border

Meghan Schaeffer
Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:00:00 PDT

In recent years, the United States has been cracking down on immigration control, its political actions enforced by growing anti-Mexican sentiments that initially gained traction during the Great Depression. In March of 2025 I took a trip down to El Paso, TX to learn about the US-Mexican border crisis. I stayed with a refugee safehouse and listened to court officials, border patrol agents, immigration lawyers, and a number of refugees who had recently crossed the border and were in the process of applying for citizenship. The unjust and horrific stories I heard from all sides of the crisis were extremely influential in my understanding of how deeply ingrained racism is in the naturalization process. My presentation will focus on how anti-Hispanic sentiments have developed, escalated, and negatively affects refugees at the US-Mexican border. It explores how early nativist ideologies are the basis for anti-Hispanic sentiments and how they are expressed through different arguments that change depending on the economic status of the United States.

This project is divided into three parts. Firstly, I have briefly included stories of lived experiences gathered from my trip to El Paso. These oral histories reflect how Hispanic refugees are negatively affected by racism in the US while they wait for citizenship. Secondly, I will outline the history of hispanic immigration at the southern border, looking at why racist ideologies develop and how they impacted immigration laws. These racist ideologies gained traction when Hispanic immigrants were blamed for stealing jobs from citizens when work was scarce during the Great Depression. Part three will explore how these sentiments continue in current times and are reinforced with political media, language, and corrupted immigration systems. Currently, Hispanic immigrants are being alienated through the argument that they bring crime and violence into the United States. All sections reveal how nativist ideologies show up in political arguments that alienate Hispanic immigrants based on the economic and social status of the United States. Being educated on the US history of racism and its current anti-immigration campaigns helps combat the negative implications it has on the naturalization process and general wellbeing of these immigrants.