Migration is a natural part of living systems, and human history is no exception. Yet it remains one of the most debated public issues of our time.
Both people and borders move. Who is allowed to move, and who is granted rights, lies at the heart of how nations define belonging. In Germany and the United States alike, these debates have been deeply intertwined with evolving ideas of race and ethnicity.
These timelines trace how citizenship and belonging have been constructed, challenged, and redefined through laws, social movements, global events, and cultural works — and how those histories continue to shape the present.
In 2010, the widely supported federal Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act failed in the Senate. The DREAM Act was designed to provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as minors and who had been educated in the U.S. or had served in the military.
