Eli5: Why does the US Government classify Arabs/Middle Easterners as white?

Question

So according to the US government, Arabs, Persians, Kurdish, etc people are white. Why is this?

In: Other

Answer 1

Race/ethnicity are often at the whim of the needs/mood of the times. Mexicans were sometimes considered white, sometimes not. In 1929, they were considered white. In 1930, the US wanted to limit non-white migration, so they changed the designation…then in 1942 it went back to white, because we needed the labor during WWII.