Since the founding of the U.S., elected officials and others have tried to pit communities of color against each other, to divide their vote and power. But the grassroots have always championed immigrant justice as part of a larger struggle to advance racial justice. In fact, it was only after the sustained civil rights protests of the 1960s, that achieved protections based on race and national origin, that the Voting Rights Act passed, immediately followed by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, abolishing the race-based immigration quota system.

The past decade has witnessed an assault on immigration, with m [...]