Immigration Policies And Naturalization Laws During World War II Essay

Immigration in the United States is a complex demographic activity that has been a major contribution to population growth and cultural change throughout much of the nation's history. The many aspects of immigration have controversy in economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants, settlement patterns, crime, and even voting behavior. Congress has passed many laws that have to do with immigrants especially in the 19th century such as the Naturalization Act of 1870, and the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, or even the Immigration Act of 1903 all to insure specific laws and boundaries set on immigrants. The life of immigrants has been drastically changed throughout the years of 1880-1925 through aspects such as immigrants taking non-immigrants

Guarding the Golden Door focuses on immigration policy in the United States beginning with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The book illustrates the transforming aspect of federal policies pertaining to immigration since 1882, and delves into meaningful statistics about the history of American immigrants up to the year 2000. Daniels details the obstacles immigrants faced with each new policy change and how Americans exhibited irrational fears towards newcomers (a sentiment still felt today) despite the reality that immigrants were crucial to the development of the American colonies. American

One of the first significant pieces of federal legislation aimed at restricting immigration was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which banned Chinese laborers from coming to America. Californians had agitated for the new law, blaming the Chinese, who were willing to work for less, for a decline in wages.The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first significant law restricting immigration into the United States. Those on the West Coast were especially prone to attribute declining wages and economic ills on the despised Chinese workers. Although the Chinese composed only .002 percent of the nation’s population, Congress passed the exclusion act to placate worker demands and assuage prevalent concerns about maintaining white “racial purity.”

In recent history, many Americans have had a growing concern for the immigration (both legal and illegal) growth in our country. While the United States of America was settled by European immigrants, the unprecedented growth the late 1800s saw, led to reform on the immigration policy, which once was nonexistent. Based on conditions floods of immigrants caused in the cities of the country, the immigration reform was needed. Not only were the lives of immigrants negatively impacted in the United States, but so were previously settled Americans.

Millions of immigrants over the previous centuries have shaped the United States of America into what it is today. America is known as a “melting pot”, a multicultural country that welcomes and is home to an array of every ethnic and cultural background imaginable. We are a place of opportunity, offering homes and jobs and new economic gains to anyone who should want it. However, America was not always such a “come one, come all” kind of country. The large numbers of immigrants that came during the nineteenth century angered many of the American natives and lead to them to blame the lack of jobs and low wages on the immigrants, especially the Asian communities. This resentment lead to the discrimination and legal exclusion of immigrants,

Since the beginning of times up until present time the United States Congress has always passed laws to limit immigrants rights. Immigrants who came to America for a better life have gone through many struggles due to the restrictions against them. Precedently, with the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited Chinese immigrants to enter the United States. Another act was the Gentlemen’s Agreement Act between Japan and America, where Japan agreed to limit immigration, only if President Theodore Roosevelt agreed to limit restrictions on Japanese immigrants. Then in 1924, Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924. The act limited the number of aliens that are allowed in the U.S. Congress passed this act because they felt that immigrant threaten America’s “old ways.” Congress wanted American to be “pure” again, by doing so, they had to get rid of many immigrants. The factors that led to Congress to pass the Immigration Act were to maintain American traditions, maintain jobs for American citizens, and repair the income.

The 1890s to the 1920s was the first time that the federal government was taking a real stand and control over immigration policies. It also saw the two greatest waves of immigration in the country’s history. War, poverty, political turmoil, social upheaval, food shortages, lack of available jobs and more prompted people from foreign countries to move to the United States because it was the land of dreams and prosperity. After the depression of the 1890s immigration jumped from 3.5 million to 9 million in a ten year period. By 1900, New York City had as many Irish residents as Dublin and more Italians than any city outside Rome and more Poles than any city except Warsaw. It had more Jews than any other city in the world, as well as large amount of Slavs, Lithuanians, Chinese, and Scandinavians (Collier). The government began to limit these new immigrants. From 1882 until 1943 most Chinese immigrants were barred from entering the United States under the Chinese Exclusion Act, the nation’s first law to ban immigration by race or nationality. In 1892, Ellis Island was opened in New York evaluate immigrants before allowing them to enter the United States. On the West Coast, Angel Island, a similar immigrant station opened near San Francisco. World economies slowed and other problems occurred that caused people to become desperate for work and a fresh start.

The Chinese Exclusion Act was established in 1882, in which the first time United States prevent a group of immigrants with nationality (Lee 4), marked United States’ from welcoming nation to an enclosed and discriminative nation, has monumental impact on each Chinese immigrants and culture of the entire American Chinese community (6). The poor conditions and lack of opportunities in the 19th century China and the Chinese’s hope of accumulating wealth to support their families in China fostered the huge influx of Chinese immigrants to United States. The discovery of gold in California also fuelled many Chinese’s dream of fast wealth (112). Due to the need for mass labour stemming from industrialization and high productivity of Chinese labours, employers would enthusiastically hire Chinese labour, which in turn sparked the increasing competition with the local workers and a growing anti-Chinese sentiment (114).

In the late years of the 19th century, America experienced rapid industrialization and urbanization which caused a large spike in immigration. Due to this, many americans believed immigration should be restricted, causing the government to make restrictions over immigration laws. These restrictions were put in place with the hopes of saving jobs for the working american. In addition, People migrating to the U.S were seen as inferior by nativists because they were not born in the U.S and were taking “american” jobs. The Government responded to the rapid increase of immigration by passing the immigration act of 1924, which “Limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota”(history.state.gov). This law helped reduce immigration, which is what many americans

The U.S. was built off immigrants, the idea that it would be a place of opportunity, a place where immigrants could have a new beginning. When WWl and WWll occurred, because of the ideology and sense of being patriotic, Chicanos included were seen as to also be taking part in helping out during these tough times. Despite the discrimination they endured it was expected of Mexicans, and Mexican-Americans to be contributing.

Before lands were set up into fixed colonies, people were free to roam and sail as they pleased. However, this is not to say that discrimination did not exist, and some were killed when they entered into foreign borders. The same holds true today in the United States of America, not necessarily due to discrimination but due to the immigration laws that were put into practice in 1790, beginning with the Naturalization Act. While it is safe precaution to make sure who enters the country and what their motives are, many are being denied the access to the American dream. It is because of this that the U.S. must take a step back and reevaluate their immigration policies.

Identify and describe the significance of the 1965 Immigration Reform. What requirements did this reform contain? How did it change Asian America? What new Asian ethnic groups migrated to the United States after 1965? How did these groups difference economically, socially, and politically from more established Asian ethnic groups?

Essentially, the United States was built by immigrants, who sought to make a new life in a new land. In this case therefore, before the 1880s, almost anyone could move in to the United States. Immigration would only start to be controlled once the population began to grow. While the first Europeans from Britain arrived in America to avoid persecution, own lands, and work on agriculture etc, more would gradually follow for the same reason followed by the Dutch, Swedish and Germans. This was encouraged given that it was viewed as a means of getting the settlements to grow and become established. However, from the 1640s, African involuntary immigration began, where slaves from mostly West

Back in the 1990s, immigration has been a huge deal in the United States. In fact, the history of the America is deeply rooted in immigration. For many years, the United States were open the door for the immigrants. However, these immigrants created a huge impact on U.S. economically, politically, socially and many more. Since then, the United States passed out law to restrict the number of immigrant for admission into the United States. In short, this paper attempts to analyse the law and restriction that the United States passed out in order to solve the immigration issues.

To address the issue of white laborers losing their jobs to ethnic minorities, the government attempted to stop the influx of immigrants. Congress’ first attempt at immigration policy was with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which prohibited the immigration of all Chinese laborers to the United States (Jannson, 2014, pg 129). It was the first federal law that excluded the immigration of an entire ethnic group based on the assumption it was endangering the amount of jobs for the superior race (National Archives, 1989).