Eugenics and Immigration.

The NY Times recognises the existence of early 20th century eugenics and its link to immigration, but Okrent only just barely notes that this toxic brew of faux science, racism, and xenophobia was largely supported by the major progressive thinkers of the time. This piece also doesn't mention the ways in which this very same line of thinking, and these very same people, were responsible for many of the government interventions into the labour market that are now applauded by modern progressives. Those interventions, of course, were designed to exclude the "inferior," (e.g. women, non-whites, immigrants) by pricing or regulating them out of the market.

So much of modern day labour policy, supported by the eugenicists' contemporary progressive counterparts, finds its roots in the same ugly racism that has always driven immigration policy. I hope that one day modern progressives can come to understand that their legitimate horror at the history of immigration policy should also produce horror at the labour market policies (such as minimum wage and maximum hours laws) that have damaged generations of people of colour and immigrants.