THANK YOU. >>> "THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW"
STARTS RIGHT NOW. >> >>> THANK TO YOU AT HOME FOR
JOINING US THIS HOUR. WOOD ROW WILSON WAS ELECTED
PRESIDENT IN 1912, WHEN HE RAN FOR REELECTION IN 1916, ONE OF
THE ANIMATING ISSUES IN THE CAMPAIGN WAS WORLD WAR I, RAGING
IN EUROPE IN WHICH WILSON PROMISED THE UNITED STATES WOULD
NOT JOIN. IN 19 16Z, BUT THEN IN 1917 THE
WORLD THREW ITSELF INTO WORLD WAR I.
BY THE TIME OF THE MIDTERM ELECTION IN 1918, WILSON WAS NOT
ONLY FACING THE TYPICAL HEADWINDS THAT A PRESIDENT'S
PARTY USUALLY FACES. HE WAS ALSO JUST ROUNDLY
DETESTED AND SO IN THOSE MIDTERM ELECTIONS, WOOD ROW WILSON'S
PARTY, THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY GOT WALLOPED.
REPUBLICANS TOOK OVER CONTROL OF THE SENATE AND THEY TOOK OVER
CONTROL OF THE HOUSE. THE REPUBLICANS GETTING CONGRESS
THAT HAD FAR-REACHING CONSEQUENCES, BUT IN THE HOW IS
IT MEANT A GIGANTIC AND VERY, VERY CONSEQUENTIAL PROMOTION NO
THIS MAN. HIS NAME IS ALBERT JOHNSON.
SUCH A GENERIC NAME. IT'S ACTUALLY HARD TO GOOGLE.
THERE WAS ANOTHER CONGRESSMAN FROM ANOTHER STATE THAT HAD
NOTHING TO DO WITH HIM. THERE WAS A FEDERAL JUDGE.
THERE WAS A FAMOUS CANADIAN FUGITIVE CALLED THE MAD TRAPPER
OF RAT RIVER WHO WAS CALLED ALBERT JOHNSON.
BUT HE WAS A BACK BENCH JUDGE FROM WASHINGTON STATE, WHOSE
WHOLE PUBLIC PROFILE HAS BEEN BUILT AROUND THE DEFENSE OF THE
WHITE RACE AND THE THREAT IN A NON-WHITE IMMIGRANTS POSED TO
WHITE CIVILIZATION IN THE UNITED STATES.
ALBERT JOHNSON AT HOME IN WASHINGTON STATE, HE RAN A
RABL-REDUCING ANTI-IMMIGRANT NEWSPAPER CALLED "THE HOME
DEFENDER. HE BRAGGED ABOUT BEING A PART OF
MOB VIOLENCE, AND OUT OF THE UNITED STATES INTO CANADA.
AND SO HE HAD BEEN A RABBLE-ROUSER AND AN ORATOR ON
THAT PET ISSUE FOR DECADES, BUT HE NEVER WIELDED NATIONAL
POWERENED WOOD ROW WILSON GOT SHELLACKED AND AL BETTER
JOHNSON'S REPUBLICAN PARTY TOOK OVER LEADERSHIP OF THE CONGRESS.
THAT IS WHAT MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR ALBERT JOHNSON TO TAKE REAL
POWER. IT WAS HIS LIFE'S DREAM TO BE IN
CHARGE OF SOMETHING LIKE THAT, AND HE DID WHAT HE COULD WITH
IT. SOON AFTER HE TOOK OVER, THE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION AND
NATURALIZATION HIRED THEMSELVES AN EXPERT EU GENETICS AGENT.
HE HAD BECOME THE PRESIDENT OF THE EU GENETICS RESEARCH
COMMITTEE OF AMERICA, AND HE BROUGHT ON ONE OF THE OFFICERS
FROM THE EU GENETICS ORGAN ASIAN, TO BECOME AN EXPERT
CONSULTANT TO THE IMMIGRATION COMMIT USE HE IN CONGRESS.
AND TOGETHER THESE TWO EU GENE CYSTS GOT TO WORK.
THEY CREATED THIS CHARGE. SCIENCE, IT'S A CHART.
THE DIAGONAL IS THE WATERMARK OF TRUMAN STATE UNIVERSITY.
THEY HAVE PRESERVED THIS GOUMT ONLINE AS PART OF THAT I HISTORY
OF EUGENETICS PROJECT. WHAT THIS CHART PURPORTS TO SHOW
IS THE RELATIVE SOCIAL INADEQUACY OF VARIOUS IMMIGRANT
RACES IN THE UNITED STATES. WHAT SOUNDS AS SOCIAL
INADEQUACY? FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS, CRIME,
EPILEPSY, TUBERCULOSIS, BLINDNESS, DEAFNESS, DEFORMITY
AND DEPENDENCY. THE CHART RAVENS YOUR LIKELIHOOD
OF BEING ANY OF THOSE THINGS OR HAVING ANY OF THOSE THINGS BASED
ON YOUR NATIONAL ORIGIN. EUGENICS IS BEST UNDERSTOOD AND
BEST REMEMBERED NOW AS THE PSEUDOSCIENTIFIC MUMBO JUMBO
THAT THE NAZIS USED TO EXPLAIN WHY THEY FELT THE NEED TO
CATEGORIZES AND KILL WHOLE POPULATIONS, AS PART OF THIS
INSANE SUPPOSEDLY DEFENSIVE PLAN TO PRESERVE THEIR FRAGILE, BUT
STILL SUPERIOR ARYAN GENE POOL. I THINK IT'S MOST EASILY HE
CONNECTED WITH THAT, BUT IT WASN'T A NAZI INVENTION.
IT WASN'T ONLY A FOREIGN FASCIST FASCINATION.
IN THE 1920s, WE DID HAVE A CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL EUGENICIST
USING TAXPAYER DOLLARS TO RANKING FEEBLE MINDEDNESS OF
AMERICAN IMMIGRANTS ON THE BASIS OF THEIR NATIONAL ORIGIN.
% ALBERT JOHNSON MADE HARRY LAWSON THE CHIEF EUGENECIST, HE
HAD PROMOTED MANDATORY -- HE WANTED STATES TO FORCIBLY NEUTER
PEOPLE AS IF THEY WERE ANIMALS TO IMPROVE THE AMERICAN GENE
POOL. LABELLAND WAS FRUSTRATED WITH
THE INEFFICIENT WAY STATES WERE GOING ABOUT THAT, THEY WRONG
STANDARDIZATION LAWS, STERILIZE MORE PEOPLE AGAINST THEIR WILL
IF THEIR GENES AREN'T UP TO IT. ALBERT JOHNSON BECAME CHAIR OF
THE COMMITTEE. HE HIRED THIS CHIEF EUGENECIST
BY 121. THEY WERE PUBLICLY RANKS
AMERICANS BY THEIR NATIONAL ORIGIN.
BY TWO YEARS AFTER THAT, 1924, THEY HAD ACHIEVED WHAT THEY WERE
AIMING AT. BY 19 24, WILSON WAS GONE, A NEW
PRESIDENTS CALVIN COOLIDGE. HE SIGNED AN ANTI-IMMIGRATION
BILLED CALLED THE JOHNSON/REED IMMIGRATION ACT OF 1924.
AND IT WAS A EUGENICS BILL, IT WAS A BILL TO PROTECT AMERICA
FROM A STREAM OF ALIEN BLOOD. IT WAS A BILL TO STOP AMERICAN
CIVILIZATION FROM DESCENDING INTO BARBARISM.
ABOUT 1924 BILL IT RESTRICTED IMMIGRATION DRAM LICK, BUT ALSO
IN A STARTED WAY, IT BANNED IMMIGRATION FROM ARATION
COUNTRIES ALL TOGETHER. IT TARGETED JEWS, IF TARGETED
ITALIANS, OTHER UNWORTHY POPULATIONS THAT TENDED TO BE
UNPOPULAR WITH THE ASCENDANT KLAN AT THE TIME.
THE LAW THEY PUT INTO LAW IN 1924, IT LIMITED IMMIGRANTS
BASED ON NATIONAL ORIGIN. THE NUMBERS WERE BASED -- THE
NUMBER OF IMMIGRANTS WHO WOULD BE ALLOWED IN NOW WOULD BE BASED
ON THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE OF THAT NATIONAL ORIGIN WHO HAD MADE IT
INTO THIS COUNTRY BY 18 0. THEY WENT BACK TO THE 19th
CENTURY TO PICK A DATE THEY DECIDED WAS WHITE ENOUGH IN
AMERICAN HISTORY TO TRY TO BRING THE COUNTRY BACK TO.
SO THEY USED THE 1890 CENSUS AS THEIR BENCHMARK TO BASICALLY SAY
IF YOUR PEOPLE WEREN'T HERE IN SUFFICIENT NUMBERS BY THEN, YOU
CAN'T COME NOW. WE WANT THE COUNTRY TO LOOK LIKE
IT DID IN 1890, NOT THE WAY IT'S GERE SWARTYIER NOW.
WHAT IS INARGUABLE IS WHAT'S CLEAR IN CONTEMPORANEOUS RECORD
ABOUT HOW IT WAS ARGUED. THERE WAS NOTHING EXPLICIT ABOUT
IT. IT WAS EXPLICITLY RACE BASED.
THERE WAS NO SECRET ABOUT THAT. THAT WAS OPENLY THE WAY THE
LEGISLATION WAS TALKED ABOUT AND ARGUED ABOUT.
THE SENATOR THAT WROTE THE BILL, NAPE DAVID REED, HE WAS QUOTED
IN "NEW YORK TIMES," THANKS TO THAT BILL, QUOTE, THE RACIAL
COMPOSITION OF AMERICA AT THIS TIME IS THUS MADE PERMANENT.
ANOTHER SENATOR NAMED ELLISON DURANT-SMITH GOT UP ON THE
SENATE FLOOR TO SPELL OUT WHY THE IMMIGRATION BILL WAS GETTING
HIS VOIGT. HE SAID IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THE
TIME HAS ARRIVED WHEN WE SHOULD SHUT THE DOOR.
THANK GOT WE HAVE AN OF THE PURE UNADULT RATED ANGLO-SAXON STOCK.
IT IS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THAT SPLENDID STOCK THAT HAS
CHARACTERIZED US THAT I WOULD MAKE THIS NOT AN ASYLUM FOR THE
OPPRESSED OF ALL COUNTRIES, BUT A COUNTRY TO ASSIMILATE AND
AFFECT THAT TYPE OF SPLENDID MANHOOD THAT HAS MADE AMERICA
THE FOREMOST NATION IN HER PROGRESS AND IN HER POWER.
IT'S SOMEWHERE BETWEEN EMBARRASSING AND PAINFUL TO
THINK ABOUT THE FACT THIS WAS LESS THAN 100 YEARS AGO, THAT
THE UNITED STATES MADE AN EXPLICITLY OVERHAUL OF
IMMATERIAL GRACE POLICY TO MAKE AMERICA MORE WHITE, TO PROTECT
THE WHITE RARE FROM THINKS GENETICALLY INFERIOR HORDEHORDE.
WE CAN AT LEAST BY THANKFUL THIS RECORD IS CLEAR, THERE'S NO
MISTAKENING THAT'S WHAT IT'S ABOUT.
ANYBODY LOOKING AT IMMIGRATION POLICY, HAS TO KNOW WHAT THAT
WAS ALL ABOUT. THAT REALLY WAS EUGENETICS.
>> IN SEVEN YEAR THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF AMERICANS
NONNATIVE BORN SINCE THE FOUNDING OF THE REPUBLIC.
SOME PEOPLE THINK WE'VE ALWAYS HAD THESE NUMBERS, BUT IT'S NOT
SO. IT'S VERY UNUSUAL.
IT'S A RADICAL CHANGE. IN FACT WHEN THE NUMBERS REACH
ABOUT THIS HIGH IN 1924, THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS CHANGED
THE POLICY, AND IT SLOWED DOWN IMMIGRATION SIGNIFICANTLY.
WE THEN ASSIMILATED THROUGH THE 1965 AND CREATED REALLY THE
SOLID MIDDLE CLASS OF AMERICA, WITH ASSIMILATED IMMIGRANTS.
IT WAS GOOD FOR AMERICA. >> THAT 1924 CHANGE, THE
PRESIDENT AND THE CONGRESS CHANGED THE POLICY.
THAT WAS GOOD FOR AMERICA. THAT WAS ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF
SESSIONS SPEAKING IN OCTOBER 2015, WHEN HE WAS STILL A
SENATOR, SPEAKING ON BREITBART RADIO, WITH A MAN NAMED STEVE
BANNON WHO WOULD SOON GO ON TO RUN DONALD TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN.
RIGHT-WRING WATCH WAS PICKED UP, THE ATLANTA, SLATE.COM PICKED IT
UP TODAY AS ATTORNEY GENERAL SESSIONS WAS SENT OUT TO MAKE
THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT THE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE
BROUGHT TO THIS COUNTRY BY THEIR IMMIGRANT PARENTS WHEN THEY WERE
STILL KIDS, WHO HAVE BEEN GIVING LEAVE TO STAY HERE LEGALLY, THEY
ARE NOW ON TRACK FOR DEPORTATION.
NBC NEWS CONFIRMING TONIGHT A SET OF TALKING POINTS AS
DISTRIBUTED TO THE WHITE HOUSE, ADVISES PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN
LIVING HERE UNDER THE DACA PROGRAM, IT ADVISES THEM TO,
QUOTE, PREPARE FOR A DEPARTURE FROM THE UNITED STATES.
SO THIS AFFECTS, AS YOU'VE BEEN HEARING TODAY, DIRECTLY ABOUT
800,000 PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN THE UNITED STATES.
BY VIRTUE OF THEIR PARTICIPATION, YOU CAN
GENERALIZE ABOUT THIS GROUP OF PEOPLE TO SAY THEY ARE PEOPLE
WHO DON'T HAVE CRIMINAL RECORDS, PIANO EMWHOR CONSTRUCTIVELY
ENGAGED, CONTRIBUTING TO SOCIETY AND THE MILITARY AND COLLEGE,
GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT. WE'LL BE TALKING TONIGHT ABOUT
THE PROSPECTS FOR EXACTLY HOW THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PLANS
TO ROURCHD THESE YOUNG PEOPLE UP, INCLUDING THE KEY QUESTION
OF WHETHERS INFORMATION THESE KIDS PROVIDED TO THE GOVERNMENT
IN ORDER TO JOIN THIS PROGRAM WILL NOW BE USED AGAINST THEM TO
FIND THEM, COLLAR THEM, SEND THEM TO COUNTRIES THEY HAVE
NEVER LIVED IN AS ADULTS. IT IS NOT AN ACCIDENT THAT
ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF SESSIONS IS THE ONE WHO WAS SENT OUT TO
MAKE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THIS TODAY.
JEFF SESSIONS HAS A LONG ADULT RECORD ON THIS SUBJECT, RIGHT?
HE IS OUTSPOKENLY AGAINST LEGAL IMMIGRATION, LET ALONE ILLEGAL
IMMIGRATION. FOR YEARS HE'S AN OUTSPOKEN
ADMIR OF THE RACE-SPECIFIC IMMIGRATION BANS OF THE 1920EST
KLAN ERA IN U.S. POLITICS, BUT IT'S NOT LIKE WE COULDN'T HAVE
SEEN THIS EITHER BECAUSE OF PREVIOUS ECHOS, OR BECAUSE OF
THE RISE OF THIS PARTICULAR PRESIDENT.
I MEAN, JEFF SESSIONS HAS ALWAYS STOOD FOR THIS STUFF.
SO HAS DONALD TRUMP AS A PUBLIC POLITICAL FIGURE.
EVEN JUST IN PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS, HE STARTED HIS
CAMPAIGN SAYING MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS WERE RAPISTS AND
BRINGING CRIME. HE PROPOSED A BAN ON MUSLIMS.
HE ARCED VEHEMENTLY THAT A JUDGE OF MEXICAN-AMERICAN ORIGIN COULD
NOT FAIRLY SERVE AS A JUDGE IN A CASE INVOLVING THE TRUMP
BUSINESS. REMEMBER THAT?
HE'S A MEXICAN. HE'S BORN IN INDIANA, ISN'T
ALLOWED TO JUDGE TRUMP BECAUSE HE'S A MEXICAN.
SINCE THE ELECTION, TRUMP THAT IS CLAIMED THE ONLY REASON HE
LOST THE POPULAR VOTE THAT SMOUL MILLION OF UNDOCUMENTED
IMMIGRANTS VOTED FOR HILLARY CLINTON.
HE PARDONED A SHERIFF WHO PROFILE IMMIGRANTS DESPITE THAT
IT WAS AGAINST THE LUOL. HIS ADMINISTRATION LITERALLY
OPENED AN OFFICE OF IMMIGRANT CRIME, TO TRY TO PROMOTE THE
VISIBILITY OF CRIMINAL ACTS BY PEOPLE WHO ARE IMMIGRANTS TO
THIS COUNTRY, EVEN THOUGH IMMIGRANTS COMMIT FEWER CRIMES
THAN PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT. SO THERE'S A LOT TO TALK ABOUT
TONIGHT IN TERMS OF THE SPECIFICS, IN TERMS OF WHAT WILL
HAPPEN TO THE 800,000 DREAMERS IN COMMUNITIES ALL ACROSS THE
COUNTRY AND SEEING THE REACTION TODAY IN TERMS OF PEOPLE TURNING
OUT IN THE STREETS. IT'S PRETTY INTENSE STUFF.
WE HAVE SOME INCREDIBLE FOOTAGE COMING UP IN JUST A SECOND.
IN TERMS OF WHERE THIS CAME FROM, I MEAN, AS FAR AS I CAN
SEE, WE'VE COVERED THE RUSSIA STUFF A LOT IN THIS SHOW, RIGHT?
STAR I CAN SEE THERE ARE REALLY ONLY TWO BRIGHT THROUGH LINES
FOR THIS PRESIDENT. IN WHAT HAS OTHERWISE BEEN AN
INCOHERENT, HARD-TO-FOLLOW, MISHMASH IDEOLOGY FROM HIM.
THERE ARE REALLY ONLY TWO THINGS THAT ARE CLEAR AS A BELL AND
NEVER CHANGING. ONE OF THEM IS REALLY
UNPRECEDENTED, WHICH IS THE PRESIDENT'S STRANGE, CONTINUED
AND UNERRING INSISTENCE ABOUT SAYING NICE THINGS ABOUT RUSSIA
AND EXCUSING THEIR BEHAVIOR. THAT'S WEIRD.
THE OTHER THING THAT'S CONSISTENT AND COHERENT AND
UNSWERVING IS VEHEMENT ANTIPATHY TOWARDS IMMIGRANTS.
BLAMING IMMIGRANTS, TRYIC TO STIR UP ANIMOSITY AND HATRED
TOWARDS IMMIGRANTS. MAKING IMMIGRANTS A SCAPEGOAT,
PUNISHING IMMIGRANTS FOR EVEN SINS THAT ARE NOT THEIRS.
THOSE ARE THE TWO THROUGH LINES I CAN SEE.
BUT THIS ONE ABOUT IMMIGRANTS, THIS IS NOT UNPRECEDENTED.
THIS ONE TAPS INTO A DEEP, OLD THROUGH LINE IN THIS COUNTRY
THAT WE HAVE SEEN BEFORE, AND IT IS A
