The New York Times recently reported that the Trump administration is "considering a radical overhaul" of the refugee system in the U.S. that would, in the publication's estimation, "favor white people" by restricting immigration to English speakers, Europeans and white South Africans.

At first glance, this may seem like just another provocation on par with President Donald Trump's profane rant against Haiti and African countries; his stated preference for immigrants from Norway, Denmark and Switzerland; his bizarre comments about immigrants carrying "bad genes," and other invective.

But it's more likely we're witnessing an escalation from random rhetoric to the implementation of concrete restrictions. The shift arguably began with Trump's travel ban on majority-Muslim countries, but what he is now considering looks like the revival of a discredited policy from the 1920s that left a lasting humanitarian stain on the country. Back then, the U.S. imposed quotas that largely ended immigration from many countries, even as it left the door open to the same groups that Trump now elevates.

Understanding how it happened then is essential to seeing how easily, a century later, it could happen again.

It's hard to believe now, but until World War I, the U.S. did little to regulate immigration, with the notable exception of bans on Chinese immigrants. There were no passports, no visas, no green cards, and basically no restrictions. By one estimate, only 2 percent of the arrivals at Ellis Island got turned away, mostly for health reasons.

While many immigrants originally hailed from Ireland, Germany, and other countries in northern and western........

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