U.S Immigration Before 1965

U.S Immigration Before 1965

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U.S Immigration Before 1965

Immigration in the U.S started way back before the 17th century. Immigration was greatly impacted by the Triangular Trade where Europeans went to America for industrialization. During this time slaves were also brought into the country to work in the industrial farms. Immigrants in the country are; Europeans, Asians, Mexicans and Africans and all came in different times. Since there are different group/ waves of immigrants who have been moving to the country, the period of interest is from mid-19th century until 1965 when the new immigration act was passed.

There are specific periods characterized by a large number of immigrants from a given group. For instance, Asians moved in in large numbers in the 1850s. Currently immigrants come into America in different ways, some legally, as tourists, refugees, students and others illegally sneak into the country. Immigrants are guided by law and they have been evolving since foreigners entered America. U.S.A has the highest number of immigrants in the world.

To start, before the immigration Act of 1955, many people who migrated to America were majorly Europeans. It should be noted that by 1930 over five million Germans had migrated in to the country. A flush of Germans migrated to the U.S between 1881 and 1885 recording one million which had never been the case. The British as well migrated in to the country and between 1865 and 1930, their number was 3.5 million. The Irish were not an exception since in the same period they recorded over 1.5 million immigrants (Behdad, 1997). The Catholics took the advantage and moved into the country to spread the gospel. Before then protestants were the ones who dominated Christianity in the region. Movement into the country was majorly by sailing ships. After steam engines were invented, immigration increased greatly since there was easy means of transport. Rail roads in Europe facilitated movement of immigrants to and from the coast.

During the civil war and a few years after, the rate of immigration slowed down because of instability in the country. Immigrants could not afford coming to the country since it was not safe for investment, employment and settlement. During the civil war, Mexicans were the ones who could find it easy to cross the border because the southerners wanted cheap labour. During this time, the north and the south were disputing about slavery thus Mexicans were available to provide cheap labor instead (Zúñiga, & Hernández-León, 2005). Following the Civil War, states passed their own immigration laws thus there was no longer unity in the country. Afterwards, in 1875 the supreme court ruled out that the federal government was responsible for making and enforcing laws concerning immigration.

From 1880 and so on, the country experienced a flush of immigrants from different nations. Immigrants were from Asia and Europe. Since between 1850 and 1880, a lot of Chinese had migrated in to the country, the government decided to take action. Many of these immigrants had settled in the U.S to work in factories. In 1882, The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed, which barred Chinese immigrants from coming to the U. S following their existing large numbers in the country (Behdad, 1997). During this decade, Chinese immigrants were blamed for low wages and lack of employment since they took most of the jobs in Goldmines and industries. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first act in the country to place restriction on a specific group. Before acts would be directed to all immigrants. The act was however necessary considering the rate of Chinese immigration in to the country.

After the 1882 Act, more laws restricted to a certain group of people were passed. In 1891, the federal government restricted polygamists, criminals, diseased and sick people from entering the country. This was necessary since if a criminal gets into the country, chances are high that he or she is going to commit further crimes. Also, he can be hiding from judgment thus should stay in his country. The same apply to sick people, where one can bring communicable diseases such as Tuberculosis to other people yet the ministry of health is trying to contain such public health issues. Immigration offices were created to control inflow of immigrants in the country and police set at poets to prevent illegal immigration (Espenshade, 1995). Police at the ports would help control all the illegal immigrants moving into the country.

As a result of the 1891 restriction, Elis Island was opened in 1892 and this is where all immigrants entered the United States between this time and 1954. Immigrants were checked and documents processed at this central place. By 1902, over 1.3 million people had entered through this island. By 1910, over 25% of New York residents consisted of immigrants and first generation Americans (Liu, Ong, & Rosenstein, 1991). During this period, immigrants faced a lot of problems with a major one being the segregation of Japanese students in San Francisco. As a result, the Japanese government decided to agree to limit the number of people, moving to U.S.A. In return of the limitation, President Theodore Roosevelt decided to ask San Francisco to end segregation of Japanese. This implies to limit immigration two countries need to come to an agreement.

The second decade of 20th century saw less immigrants. World War I was about to happen, Xenophobia in the U.S also happened at this time. America involved itself in the WWI in 1917 and at the eve of the involvement, Xenophobia was at its peak. Americans were against non-Americans especially people from the East with Asian and Europeans being the main target (Behdad, 1997). Xenophobia in 1917 was serious to an extent people got killed by mob for just walking on the streets of America. While Xenophobia was on, the congress also passed a law that required all immigrants getting in to the country to be literate. The 1917 immigration act of was aimed at stopping illiterate Asians from getting to America.

As years went by, the federal government enacted more laws. In 1924, another act was passed which limited the number of immigrants getting in to the country and settling in through the nationality quotas. The country limited the number of visas issued and 70% percent went to those in Germany, Ireland and Great Britain. People from Southern Europe and other countries were not lucky since each country could receive two percent of the remaining visas. The act excluded immigrants from Asia since initially they were limited from getting to U.S. Only American colonies in the continent were allowed to the country. It should be noted that when there are a lot of limitations, then the country has to battle with illegal immigrants. After the 1924 Act, illegal immigrants increase especially Asians. The U.S border patrol was establishing to control illegal movement into the country (Espenshade, 1995). The control did not full end illegal immigration but limited the numbers.

WWII was another event that saw a group of immigrants move into the country. Due to labor shortages, Mexicans came in to assist by doing different jobs while U.S soldiers went out for war. Bracero program was formed which allowed Mexicans who had knowledge in agriculture to move to U.S (Zúñiga, & Hernández-León, 2005). The program was fruitful until 1964 when it came to an end.

After the WWII, there were Europeans seeking settlement which forced the federal government to pass the Refugee settlement law of 1948. It was about time to end the exclusion of Asians thus the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 was passed which allowed Asians into the country provided they met the requirements (Liu, , Ong, & Rosenstein, 1991). Due to a failed uprising of soviets, there were people left homeless in Hungary thus the United States admitted them as refuges in 1957. After the cold war ended, over three million refugees were admitted to the united states. Not to forget, there was the operation Peter Pan which saw many children move to The United States from Cuba as a result of the anti-communism program. During this time Cuba was headed by Fidel Castro.

Quota system ended in 1965 when Immigration and Nationality act was established to overhaul the quotas established in 1920s. The 1920s acts were not fair since some races and countries were favoured and others given less chances to come to the United States. Immigration then continued with immigrants granted citizenship after seven years of stay (Ngai, 2003). Further, second and first generation Americans would apply for citizenship by birth.

Conclusively, immigration saw improved source of labour, industrialization and unity between nations. On the negative side, immigration led to different races into the country which formed a basis for discrimination and racism. As a result of immigration, there was cheap labour and many Americans were left jobless. Immigration is not a process that is going to end provided people move to other countries for research, education, investment among other factors. Immigration laws are expected to change often because of the varying situations of a country which forces it to limit number of foreigners. Immigration laws have been amended since 1965 and more amendments are expected.

Reference

Behdad, A. (1997). Nationalism and immigration to the United States. Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, 6(2), 155-178.

Espenshade, T. J. (1995). Unauthorized immigration to the United States. Annual Review of Sociology, 21(1), 195-216.

Liu, J. M., Ong, P. M., & Rosenstein, C. (1991). Dual chain migration: Post-1965 Filipino immigration to the United States. International Migration Review, 25(3), 487-513.

Ngai, M. M. (2003). The strange career of the illegal alien: Immigration restriction and deportation policy in the United States, 1921–1965. Law and History Review, 21(1), 69-108.

Rosenblum, K. (1999). Illegal immigration in America: A reference handbook. Greenwood Publishing Group.

Zúñiga, V., & Hernández-León, R. (Eds.). (2005). New destinations: Mexican immigration in the United States. Russell Sage Foundation.