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A History of Immigration

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There are many different civilizations of different origins who have settled in the United States today. There have been many different civilizations of Native Americans and Indians since the U.S. was founded. The French, Spanish, and English were the first to explore and establish settlements in North America. Nations of these origins claimed their own land and created colonies. Once the first colonies decided to establish themselves as a country, they were able to establish who were citizens and who were not. The United States has come a long way since then, with many immigration laws being created. The purpose of the laws is to control the amount of legal and illegal immigrants in the United States. All of the laws created have had major positive and negative effects on the groups that they have been created for. This country’s vision of “We the People” is that the people in the U.S. are people who are considered legal citizens. Immigrants who are trying to become citizens should respect the immigration laws in place today and not try to become a citizen if the law says that they are not allowed.

The United States has created and passed many laws since it was founded in 1776. As the United States has evolved, more and more laws have been created in relation to immigration. The “Alien and Sedition Acts” of 1798 required immigrants to be a resident of the United States for 14 years before they were allowed to become citizens. These acts also provided for the deportation of “dangerous” aliens (Guyette, Tavalin, Rooker). The “Chinese Exclusion Act” of 1882 was the first federal immigration law. It suspended Chinese immigration for 10 years. This law also banned Chinese from becoming citizens in the United States (Guyette, Tavalin, Rooker). The “Dred Scott Decision” of 1857 declared free Africans non-citizens. The “Immigration Act” of 1990 provided “amnesty for many illegal aliens and sanctions for employers who were hiring illegal immigrants (Guyette, Tavalin, Rooker). The “USA Patriot Act” of 2001 was created to “broaden the scope of aliens ineligible for admission” (Guyette, Tavalin, Rooker). All of these acts helped control the amount of immigrants in the United States

“Chinese immigrants are now the third-largest foreign-born group in the United States after Mexicans and Indians” (Hooper and Batalova). This estimate was only two percent of the total 11.4 million immigrants living in the United States at the time (Hooper and Batalova). This is a large number of immigrants when one thinks about all of the restrictions relating to Chinese immigration in the past. Because of harsh living conditions starting in the 1850s, more and more Chinese immigrants started to want to move to the United States. Even though an estimate of “300,000 Chinese immigrants entered the United States between 1850 and 1889”. Almost half of these immigrants returned back to China because of harsh discrimination laws in the United States. The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in 1882, which “prohibited Chinese labor migration to the United States and barred Chinese residents from obtaining U.S. citizenship”. Even after this law was appealed, not a lot of Chinese immigration was allowed until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. This law “significantly expanded migration opportunities for non-European immigrants”. Japanese immigration increased after restrictions were lifted. Most Japanese immigrants are wives of American citizens who were born in Japan. Most Japanese immigrants live in either California or Hawaii. The 2001 census reported that the Japanese American population was decreasing. This is most likely because of the “low birth rates, high rates of out marriage and assimilation, and low levels of immigration” (Toji).

The five laws stated all were created to reduce the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. When focusing on the Chinese, the Chinese Exclusion Act really decreased the amount of Chinese immigrants in the United States at the time. Before the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, U.S. relations with Chinese immigrants were not very strong. After that law was passed, Chinese immigration greatly increased, with the number of immigrants going from “299,000 in 1980 to 536,000 in 1990”. The Statue of Liberty “is an icon of freedom and opportunity for immigrants to the U.S.” (Sanfilippo). The Statue of Liberty has had an accurate representation of that after the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 was passed. Even though the Statue of Liberty is “welcoming”, there are still “210,000 unauthorized Chinese nationals living in the United States”. The immigration laws have become stronger as the United States has evolved as a country. The U.S. is not as “welcoming” as the Statue of Liberty says it is. This may be the cause of the constant flow of illegal immigrants. There are many illegal immigrants in this country today, and that is because this country has not enforced the laws that we already have. To stop the force of illegal immigrants, this country either needs to enforce the laws that we already have, or create new ones that are even stronger.

Works Cited

Guyette, Elise, Fern Tavalin, and Sarah Rooker. “A Brief Timeline of U.S. Policy on

Immigration and Naturalization.” Flowofhistory.org N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sep. 2015.

Hooper, Kate and Jeanne Batalova. “Chinese Immigrants In the United States.”

Migrationpolicy.org. Migration Policy Institute, 28 Jan. 2015 Web. 26 Sep. 2015.

Sanfilippo, Mike. “Statue of Liberty.” Nymag.com. New York Media LLC, n.d. Web. 26

Sep. 2015.

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