Políticas de inmigración en América Latina: el extranjero indeseable en las normas nacionales, de la Independencia hasta los años de 1930

Abstract

This article explores the emergence of the figure of the extranjero indeseable in national legislation in Latin America, from independence through the late 1930’s, taking into account parallels with immigration policies in the United States. Restrictions on the free entry of foreigners, established in the nation-states during the first decades of independence, were based on the concept of the ideal citizen. The analysis of impediments to the entry of foreigners shows how during the nineteenth century the ‘desired’ alien was increasingly defined in contrast to the negative features of the ‘undesirable’ alien and was aimed at ‘defending the nation’.