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www.desitalkchicago.com – that’s all you need to know 12 COVER STORY : AMERICA’S 250TH July 3, 2026 Short Teaching Module: Indian Immigrants And U.S. Citizenship In An Imperial Context to renounce British subjecthood and naturalize as US citizens. In the early twentieth century, British subjects arriving in the United States, including those from co- lonial India, continued to raise concerns over natural- ization in the United States. Agents of the Government of India, India Office, and colonial India’s provincial governments feared that immigrants, including students like Rashid, would smuggle arms from abroad into India to lead a rebellion, plot the assassination of prominent British officials, and bomb strategic imperial sites. Imperial officials considered it a high priority to thwart the political movements of Indian immigrants in the United States. Most Indian immigrants in the United States originated from colonial Punjab, which served as the primary recruiting base for the British Indian Army. Michael Francis O’Dwyer, the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, feared Punjabi immigrants abroad could en- courage seditious activities within Punjab and infiltrate the ranks of Punjabi service officers who helped sustain British imperialism across Asia and Africa. American complicity with foreign governments was not uncom- mon. State and federal government officials had long been complicit in prohibiting newly colonialized populations from acquiring U.S. citizenship across the Caribbean and Pacific, and in stifling anticolonial move- ments led by Irish, Mexican, Puerto Rican, and other immigrants within their national borders. In the early twentieth century, as historians Moon- Ho Jung and Seema Sohi have shown, British and American authorities developed an expanding security state apparatus as a result of anti-imperial politics led by Indian immigrants and pan-Asian political solidari- ties. Imperial officers leveraged discourses of national security and patriotism duringWorldWar I to draw renewed attention to the naturalization of politically active immigrants who challenged the imperial world order. After Rashid’s case, British officials advocated for the denaturalization of Indian immigrants who secured U.S. citizenship if they participated in anticolonial movements from abroad. In 1917, U.S. and British of- ficials collaborated but failed to denaturalize Taraknath Das, a Bengal-born activist and one of the founders of the Hindustani Association, over his involvement with German enemies of war and communists. During WorldWar I, Das was convicted of violating the Neu- trality Act during the Hindu-German Conspiracy Trial and sentenced to twenty-two months in the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. The Hindu- German Conspiracy Trial also drew renewed attention to British and American authorities who grew increas- ingly concerned about the risk the naturalization of co- lonial subjects posed to empire. The trial revealed that Indian immigrants had developed vast networks across imperial borders and spanning nearly every continent to overthrow the colonial government. British officials also colluded with American officials to restrict Indian immigrants from naturalizing as U.S. citizens during the war. In 1917, V.W. Tomlinson, the regional naturalization examiner in Oregon employed by the Bureau of Naturalization, opposed Bhagat Singh Thind’s third attempt to naturalize as a U.S. citizen in Oregon. The Bureau submitted evidence retrieved from the Director of Military Intelligence linking Thind to political activities, activists, and wartime labor strikes, and questioned Thind’s loyalty to the United States. Thind, an Indian laborer and part-time student at the University of California-Berkeley, and his lawyer contested the Bureau of Naturalization. The two men submitted a letter from the U.S. Army proving Thind’s service during the war and his interest in becoming a Signal Reserve Corps officer, a position that required naturalization. They also submitted Thind’s Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen (Four L) membership card to the court. The organization, founded by the U.S. War Department in the Pacific Northwest, countered labor organizations such as the International Workers of the World. Every member swore loyalty to the United States and committed to the production of logs and lumber to build airplanes and ships for the U.S. armed forces. The District Court for the District of Oregon naturalized Thind as a US citizen, but the Bureau of Naturalization and Department of Justice appealed Thind’s case to the US Supreme Court, insisting that Indian immigrants were not white. The US Supreme Court declared Indian immigrants were of “Asiatic stock”—not white—and unanimously denied Thind citizenship in 1923. The De- partment of Justice then pursued the first denaturaliza- tion of an entire immigrant community when it targeted Indian immigrants in 1924. British authorities refused to intervene in the denaturalization proceedings, which impacted Indian men and their families, and largely ignored the petitions of Indian subjects suffering from the loss of rights granted to them as U.S. citizens. This included the right to land ownership and entry into the United States. In 1946, U.S. legislators voted to grant a limited number of Indian and other immigrants from East, South, and Southeast Asia the right to naturalize as U.S. citizens in light of new transimperial concerns duringWorldWar II and political organizing by Asian communities. At the time, British officials hoped to secure Indian support for the war effort and did not challenge Indian immigrants’ right to naturalize as U.S. citizens as they had in the early twentieth century. British officials were preoccupied with the growing nationalist movement within or near the borders of colonial India and were busy preparing plans on how and when to transition power to India’s nationalist leaders in the wake of independence. U.S. officials also privileged the geopolitical importance of India and Indian soldiers to their victory in the war, and poten- tial access to India’s markets following independence. The motivations of both empires revealed how imperial interests continued to shape legal reforms to American naturalization processes through the twentieth century. Hardeep Dhillon is a sociolegal historian specializing in the development of immigration and border controls. Dr. Dhillon is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the American Bar Foundation where she is completing a book manuscript that places Asian American history at the center of the legal development of twentieth century US immigration and border enforcement. She received her doctorate in History from Harvard with a secondary focus on Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Dr. Dhillon will join the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania in Fall 2023. -Source: ShortTeaching Module: Indian Immigrants and U.S. Citizenship in an Imperial Context ,” inWorld History Commons, https://worldhistory- commons.org/short-teaching-module-indian-immi- grants-and-us-citizenship-imperial-context Indian and other Asian immigrants attended land grant universities across the United States in the early twentieth century. These universities offered degrees in agriculture that were important to imperial subjects like Muhammad Abdul Rashid because of agri- culture’s importance in the global economy. In colonial Punjab, the local press often reported that British officials, employing extractive methods, failed to invest in the development of local regions. Many Indians even supported the idea that local men im- migrate to Europe, the United States, and Ja- pan to acquire knowledge about agriculture, engineering, and other fields and then return to India to help build and sustain local economies in India. Indian students who ar- rived in the United States joined the growing ranks of international students in engineer- ing, medicine, and agriculture. Even at the height of U.S. immigration restriction target- ing Asian immigrants, many Asian students such as Rashid were able to enter the United States. These immigrants had enough wealth to complete their education without working, whereas others worked and attended college. The arrival of these students expanded and transformed the nature of American educa- tional institutions at a moment when higher education remained out of reach for most Americans. In addition to listing Rashid as graduating the article notes, “There are also several Hindu students at O. A. C. who are making excellent progress.” Listed with Rashid are a Pala Singh Harbana who earned a degree in mining engineering and an S.L. Ravi who graduated in Mechanical Engineer- ing. -This source is part of the Indian Immigrants and U.S. Citizenship in an Imperial Context teaching module. PHOTO:WORLDHISTORYCOMMONS.ORG ANNOTATION U.S. targets Indian Activist, Taranknath Das. - Continued From Page 10