These Quotas Made It Very Clear On Who Was And Was Not

During the mid and late twentieth century a major Mexican immigration Boom happened. With many job opportunities in the agricultural field in the United States and an economy in mexico that was growing but only benefited the rich. Many poor Mexicans migrated to the United States. According to the book, “Mexican Immigrants In The United States” by Portes, Alejandro, Bach, Robert L. Between 1960 and 1970 the Mexican economy was growing at a rapid rate with only the top 5 percent benefiting from it. Unemployment and underemployment began to spread and income inequality got even wider. These events led to a migration of legal and illegal Mexican immigrant into the United States. Mexico became an economic paradise for those who were already wealthy. The rest who were left behind had no other choice than to

Americans turned toward domestic isolation and social conservatism in the 1920s because of the red scare. Many people used the red scare to break the backs of all struggling unions. Isolationist Americans had did not have a lot of hope in the 1920s. There began to be a large amount of immigrants flowing into the US. During 1920-1921, over 800,000 immigrants had come. This type of immigration was known as the "New Immigration". The Emergency Quota act of 1921 and the Immigration Act of 1924 severely limited immigration and was taken from the census of 1890 rather than 1910, because 1890 was a huge immigration

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

The government has also put provisions designed to encourage migration of certain kinds of workers who have lost the skills from the current population. In 1924, as the fears of the immigrants fleeing from border increased, Congress set up the first Office of border control to watch the immigrants from Canada and Mexico. Immigration numbers decreased significantly around 1925 and 1945 In 1948, Congress made a temporary revision to the immigration policy to allow people displaced by World War II to be in America. in 1952, Congress made the McCarran-Walter Immigration and Nationality law, which officially canceled any remaining limitations on the grounds of race, and immigration to people of any nation. The McCarran- Walter immigration and nationality law improved political growth (Schrag).

There was a big gap between the native-born and immigrants in the 1920s. African Americans were not the only people who experienced racism in the 1920s. (Huggins) Masses of non-protestant immigrants arrived to the United States from south-east Europe. Most of them were Jews and Catholics. These new immigrants, along with Orientals, Mexicans, and Blacks, suffered the most from those who were involved with the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (W.A.S.P.) values. (Racial Discrimination in America during the 1920s) In 1921, Congress passed many immigration laws to stop immigration from southern and eastern Europe. (Huggins) Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act which created a quota system. This

Hispanic immigration to the United States stems primarily from uniquely developed push-pull migration mechanisms in which “interplay of national, regional, and global economic developments, the history of U.S. military and foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere, the checkered history of international border enforcement and interdiction efforts, and, not least, the aspirations of Latin American migrants and potential migrants themselves” (Gutierrez). In other words, migration from Latin American to the United States shouldn’t have been consistent, however, there are several factors that triggered massive waves of such.

The framework for American immigration policy began around the 1750-1820 period through the incorporation of colonial legacy with existing state and federal policy (Zolberg, 2009). The United States legislation has excluded whole nations and regions from migrating due to internal and external factors. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Page Act of 1875 restricted Chinese female immigration. In 1917 and 1924, quota systems were adopted to prohibit considerably “undesirable and “inferior” ethnic groups and races. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, between 400,000 and 1 million Mexican laborers and their families were deported under the “repatriation” programs. Approximately

There were many people who wanted to continue allowing immigration, while others were completely opposed to the idea. Some of the main groups who wanted to end immigration were the Klu Klux Klan, labor unions, and African American organizations. The Klan wanted to end immigration because they had the same hatred for immigrants as they did African Americans. Labor unions and African American organizations were simply fearful that their jobs would be given to these new people. In 1882, Congress began to take steps toward restricting immigration. The first immigrants to be excluded were Chinese. A literacy test was soon put into place, but did not reduce the immigrant quantity significantly enough, A quota would now be put into place. The number of immigrants allowed per year from each country would be drastically reduced. Japanese immigrants would be banned. Our nations new immigration policy was creating new problems. Many countries, specifically China and Japan, grew deeply belligerent. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are two immigrants famous for stealing and murdering a paymaster and a guard. These men kept their innocence through the trail, but they were still executed. This case showed how much our country once full of immigrants, had turned against

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 period between 1900 and 1915 is thought to be the peak of immigration. More than ten million people came to the United States looking for a better future. The fact that these included Jews and Catholics alerted older Anglo-Saxon and Protestant American citizens. They also disliked the fact that newcomers with their Old World customs, dared to compete for low-wage jobs. As the tension over immigration rose, a series of anti-immigration measures were taken. Immigration Quota Law of 1924 and a 1929 act, both of these laws limited the number of immigrants to over a hundred thousand to be distributed among people of different nationalities as oppose to the number of the fellow countrymen already living in the United States in 1920.

1924’s Johnson-Reed Act lowered the quota to two per cent and used the 1890 census figures. It also provided that in 1927 no more than 150,000 immigrants per year would be admitted on the basis of their national origin. These quotas favored the Western European countries. No restrictions were placed on Western Hemisphere countries such as Canada and Mexico. Asians were totally excluded. Another feature the 1924 law provided was the partiality and non quota status given to certain relatives of American citizens such as parents, children under twenty-two, husbands and the wives and children under eighteen.

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, signed by President Truman, was initially drafted to exclude certain immigrant from coming to the United States post World War 2 and early Cold War. The Act did not only deny people based on country origin but also targeted by unlawful, immoral, diseased, politically radical, and gender. In contrast, it accepted those who were willing and able to assimilate into the U.S. lifestyle with ease economically, socially, and politically. One benefit was the creation of a system of preferences which served to help American consuls overseas prioritize visa applicant in countries with heavily oversubscribed quotas. Under the preference system, the beneficiaries were individuals with special skills or families already resident in the United States who received precedence. In addition, the act created a labor certification system designed to prevent new immigrants from becoming unwanted competition for American laborers. Furthermore, in 1965 the act was revised and signed by President Johnson becoming the Hart-Cellar Act. The revisions established

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

Congress started to buckle down on illegal entry to the United States by passing a bill in 1929 about immigration to the United States. This made immigration from Mexico a hazardous ordeal and many Mexican people knew of the hostile treatment up north. Those who were already in America started to fear the fact that if they were found out, they could be sent back home to Mexico and all their efforts in the country would be for naught. Some Mexican Americans ended up going back to Mexico on their own accord, but unfortunately, some were also caught and forced against their will. Our book talks briefly about some of the ways Mexican Americans were forced into returning home; “During the course of this hugely popular campaign, civil liberties were violated on a regular basis, as American born children of immigrants, now U.S citizens were often denied the option to stay in the country when their parents were deported”(Gonzales, p. 150). All in all, as many as 82,400 Mexican Americans were deported back to Mexico against their will (for this information, see gilderlehrman.org link in bibliography. Seen on Feb 19th, 2018). It was ironically and eerily similar to the later round up of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor (from memory but also noted gilderlehrman.org link in bibliography. Seen on Feb 19th,