Neoliberalism Kwan

Neoliberalism, a belief that individuals thought be responsible for their own moral behavior or face the consequences, originated circa 1996 when three major laws were signed into effect: the Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, Anti-Terrorism Act, and the Effective Death Penalty Act. Some outcomes of the new legislation were as follows: immigration policy was changed, non-citizen criminals were deported AFTER serving their time, sentences were shortened to hasten deportation, and grounds for arrest and deportation were expanded. Those arrested under these new laws were not subject to due process or entitled to posting bail.

This was the United State’s response to the rise in immigrant related terrorist attacks in the 90’s, such as the World Trade Center and OKC Bombing.

Regardless of the reasoning, the expectation was that citizens, and particularly non-citizens, were expected to take care of themselves and practice stringent and excessive self-governance without government aid. In effect, the State became ignorant to immigrant problems, and by extent Asian American Racial problems, and instead just became focused on punishment.

I think the biggest danger of neoliberalism comes in involuntary worth judgements that get made when the government decides a certain group of people should not get assistance and should face stricter policing. The net effect of this is Asian American families become broken up as family members are shipped off, making life harder on immigrants and casting them in a negative light that is self-fulfilling in nature. Meanwhile, the government sits back and does nothing to help. This is what groups like the AYPAL are seeking to combat.