Should The National Quota Be Regulated With National Quotas?

Two policies that, from a certain perspective, are best suited for the immigration and refugee crises in the United States have to do with making emigration unnecessary and admitting the talent we need. One of the main beliefs of making emigration unnecessary includes making our homeland the top priority in regards to reducing suffering anywhere in the world. Another belief that comes from admitting the talent we need is giving skilled, well-educated people the opportunity to show their capability for the betterment of the United States. Pros of having both policies have a lot to do with reducing the drain on our resources while better monitoring people who come into the U.S., and to help hold down government costs for welfare, health care,

Immigration has always been a complex issue in the United States. Previous and current administrations have had great difficulties in setting policies and programs in place to address this problem. During the course of American history, laws were enacted to address such issues. There were numerous legislative milestones in regards to immigration in the United States. In order to understand the current issues regarding immigration, we have to look back at the policies that were in place along with the goals that they intended to serve. According to (Barusch, 2012), the United States had an open immigration policy; which means that anyone could relocate to this country. As a result of this policy, the government had to redefine

Throughout most of America's history immigration was seen as a natural process that benefited the nation (Divine 2). There were no clearly defined policies on immigration until the 1890's. During this time the country started questioning the economic benefits of more immigrants. In May 1921, the first bill in American history dealing with immigration was passed. This bill restricted European immigration and created the quota system (Divine 5). The downward turn in the economy could justify this turn toward restriction. Who could argue for more immigrants when the nation's own citizens could not find work. The slowing economy and the "spirit of intense nationalism" in the United States at this time made immigration a hot topic (Divine 23). After the depression hit, everyone agreed that there was a "need to limit immigration," of course the extent of those limits was not easily agreed upon (Divine 77).

At first the government supported open immigration in the open and settled land, but after the Civil War while, states began to pass their own immigration regulations and immigrating become more difficult. The Supreme Court decided immigration would be under federal jurisdiction in 1875, and Congress created the Department of Immigration in 1891. Since 1900 to 1921, Congress created the "quota system," which gave authorization for a specified number of individuals of all ethnic groups in immigration like most Asian nations (Wellman, Cole).

The United States is a country that was built on immigration. The first settlers, Native Americans, represent less than 2% of the total population; the remaining 98% of the population are immigrants or decedents of immigrants. Today, the US still has the highest immigration rate in the world with 757,434 naturalizations in the 2012 fiscal year only (US Naturalizations 2012, Department of Homeland security). People try to immigrate to the United States for many reasons. Some people immigrate because they have been granted a refugee status or asylum and other people immigrate to fulfill their dreams. Immigration has an effect on the American society and economy. The US cannot survive without immigrants.

Since the 1700’s the U.S. has been working on and has implemented policies try to restrict and govern the immigrants entering this country. Many immigrants come to America looking for a better way of life than what was destined for them in their native lands.

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 immigration act of 1924 was really the first permanent limitation on immigration. This limitation was like a quota system that only aloud two percent instead of the three percent of each foreign born group living in the United states in 1890. Like it say in Document A “Under the act of 1924 the number of each nationality who may be admitted annually is limited to two per cent of the population of such nationality resident in the United States according to the census of 1890.” Using the 1890 census instead of newer up-to-date ones they excluded a lot of new immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe that came by in resent years (This is shown awfully well in Document B). This acts annual quota changed from 358,000 in 1921 to 164,000

My thoughts on immigration changed a lot because I think that I’m more able to analyze countries policies and especially the U.S policies toward Immigration. I used to think a country restrictive toward immigration was mostly linked to conservatism reasons but the liberal paradox mentioned in the first reading by Hollifield “The Emerging migration state” made me understand that they were more behind immigration restrictions. The liberal paradox create a vicious sphere where even though international economic forces push states towards greater openness, the international state system and powerful political forces push states towards greater closure. This paradox trapped states because they have to maintain a competitive advantage and keep their economies open to trade, investment and migration but all this advantages follow with the some political risks such as national security and an identification of the type benefit that immigrants could get once on the territory. This liberal paradox explain why countries has established immigration quotas as mentioned by Daniels in the reading “The 1920s: The triumph of the old nativism”. Even though in the application these quotas were exceeded the establishment of this prove the determination of government to address immigration issues. Nevertheless, there are evidences that show that some policies restrictions toward immigrations were purely racial. It

When I first read about the national origins quota I was appalled that the government showed bias toward the different nationalities. They preferred educated Western Europeans, I cannot say I fully agree with this level of censorship, however now I can see how keeping this quota would be beneficial to America. Immigrants with education are an asset to American society; however non educated immigrants can become a liability. The article shares that in 1965, the U.S. House voiced a concern for the unforeseen number of Latin Americans who might enter the

U.S. as an immigration country, has a long history of immigration. It is a complex demographic phenomenon that has been a major source of population growth and cultural change of the United States. People came here because of varies reason, the major reason among them are fleeing crop failure, land and job shortage, rising taxes, and famine. Nearly 12 million people immigrate to the United States between 1870 and 1900, making it the world largest immigrate country.

In 1965, the 89th Congress got rid of the quota system on immigration (only a certain amount of immigrants can come in from specific countries) and replaced it with a system that was more equitable. According to Roger Daniels, Congress successfully replaced the former quota system because it was seen as very discriminatory toward Asians and Eastern Europeans especially. The Immigration Law was not intended to have major consequences, according to Daniels, but it ended up causing a high influx of South American and Asian immigration over the following decades. Although Daniels presents a good argument and is correct in that Congress succeeded in their initial plans, he does not give many specific reason, and he argues that the consequences of the bill were not foreseen, which is incorrect; many people did see and were afraid of the consequences the bill might bring. In addition, the primary sources’ argument provides for scenarios that Daniels did not account for having to do with the underlying intent of the bill; like that it could have been spurred by diplomatic relations and war.

These quotas made it very clear on who was and was not wanted in the United States. Certain countries had a quota number that was much lower than others. That difference in number was a game changer in how easy or how hard it was for distinct immigrants to come over. The 1920s exposed many fears for Americans already settled in the United States. Some people felt threatened by other religious groups, “Booker T. Washington, also wanted restrictions because they saw the new comers as added competitions for jobs” and there was obviously lingering bias that still existed in the country. All realms of society had worries that overflowed the government with the obligation to protect against those fears. The quotas allowed for those

The primary source is a proclamation of the quotas of immigrants allowed in the United States from each country. It is a political document so the information is straightforward, but the document does not contain all the details and the reasons behind it. It is also important to remember that in order for the document to become official many people in the government have to agree to it, so the document has been edited to become something different than it originally was.

The United States’ quota based immigration system weakens the country’s ability to sustain its position in the increasingly competitive global economy. Although the United States has a substantial flexible labor market, huge international corporations and some of the best universities in the world, it faces great competition in the global labor market. With the increasing economic opportunities available in industrialized countries and the continually expanding economies of India and China the US needs to update its immigration policies to remain strong globally.