Imigration Essay Research Paper IMMIGRATIONFor many immigration

Imigration Essay, Research Paper

IMMIGRATION

For many, immigration to the United States during the late 19th to early 20th century would be a new beginning to a prosperous life. However there were many acts and laws past to limit the influx of immigrants, do to prejudice, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act. Later on into the 20th century there would be laws repealing the older immigration laws and acts making it possible for many more foreigners to immigrate to the United States. Even with the new acts and laws that banned the older ones, no one can just walk right in and become a citizen. One must go through several examinations and tests before he or she can earn their citizenship. One man who has experienced immigrating into the United States is Charles B. Wang, an immigrant from China that has made himself a multibillion-dollar fortune in the computer industry. The Chinese Americans who originally faced extreme racism on the west cost are spread across the nation today and most have kept their culture.

Many immigration laws and acts were placed against foreigners to control the influx of immigrants arriving on the American shores. The first of these was the Chinese Exclusion Act of May 6, 1882. (3,1098) Although directly affecting only a small group, it was the turning point of the U.S. immigration policies. Prior to this act no significant number of free immigrants had been barred from the country. Once the Chinese Exclusion Act had been placed, further limitations on the immigration of ethnic groups became standard procedure for more than eight decades .(3,1098) Since the arrival of the first Chinese Immigrants, racist hostility towards the Chinese always existed. (3,342) They were predominantly male laborers, concentrated in California. (3,342) They were vital to the development of western mining, transportation, and agriculture.(3,342) By 1876 enough political pressure existed to cause a congressional investigation. (3,342) An 1880 treaty gave the United States the unilateral right to regulate, limit or suspend the immigration of Chinese laborers, canceling the right of Chinese to enter the country. (3,1098) Congress the suspended the immigration of Chinese laborers for twenty years, but President Chester A. Arthur vetoed the bill, arguing that a .shorter experiment. was more prudent.(3,343) Congress quickly complied and made a ten-year bill that the President signed on May 6, 1882. (3,343) The Act suspended immigration of Chinese laborers for ten years while exempting teachers, students, merchants, and tourists. (3,343) It also denied all Chinese persons the right to become naturalized citizens. (3,1098) The law was renewed for a second ten-year period in 1892 and then made .permanent. in 1902. (3,343) Chinese Exclusion Act had set a precedent for many other immigration laws and acts to come.

The Immigration Act of March 3, 1891 was the first comprehensive law for national control of immigration. (3,1098) It established the Bureau of Immigraion under the Treasury Department to administer all immigration laws (except the Chinese Exclusion Act). (3,1098) This Immigration Act also added to the inadmissible classes. The people in these classes were inadmissible to enter into the United States. (3,1098) The people in these classes were, those suffering from a contagious disease, and persons convicted of certain crimes. (3,1098)

The Immigration Act of March 3, 1903 and The Immigration Act of February 20, 1907 added further categories to the inadmissible list. (3,1141) Immigrants were screened for their political beliefs. (3,1141) Immigrants who were believed to be anarchists or those who advocated the overthrow of government by force or the assassination of a public officer was deported. (3,1141) This act was made mainly do to the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901. (3,1140)

On February 5, 1917 another immigration act was made. (3,1098) This Act codified all previous exclusion provisions and added the exclusion of illiterate aliens form entering into the United States. (3,1098) It also created a .barred zone.(Asia-Pacific triangle), whose natives were also inadmissible. (3,1098) This Act made Mexicans inadmissible. (3,1395) It insisted that all aliens pay a head tax of $8 dollars. (3,1395) However, because of the high demand for labor in the southwest, months later congress let Mexican workers (braceros) to stay in the U.S. under supervision of state government for six month periods. (3,1395)

A series of statutes were made in 1917,1918, and 1920. (3,1141) The sought to define more clearly which aliens were admissible and which aliens were deportable. These decisions were made mostly on the aliens. political beliefs. (3,1141) They formed these statutes in reaction to the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, which led to a Russian economic recession and a surge of immigrants used to communistic ideals bringing along with them a red scare. (3,1141) The Immigration act of May 26, 1924, consolidated all of the statutes and laws in the past.(3,1141) It also established a quota system designed to favor the Northwestern Europeans because others were deemed less likely to support the American way of life.(3,1141) The act also barred all Asians as aliens ineligible for citizenship in the U.S. (3,343)

The act of June 14, 1940 permanently transferred the Immigration and Naturalization Service from the Department o