In this episode, we explore how chinese exclusion invented american gatekeeping. I want you to try and imagine a map of the United States, but mentally erase all the checkpoints, you know, the border patrols, the visa applications, the quotas. Right, like they're all blank. Exactly. Imagine a time when the borders of this country were just entirely open, like there were no federal immigration restrictions at all. None. You could arrive from anywhere, step off a boat and just walk into the country to start a new life. It sounds almost like a fantasy today, right? considering how heavily regulated and monitored modern borders are. Oh, totally. But for the first century of American history, that was the baseline reality. The whole paradigm of what a border even meant was fundamentally different. It was... I mean, mostly just a line on a map, not a fort ...