Immigration concerns across the years

Asian
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 – denied any Chinese immigrant from entering unless they could prove they were not of the skilled or non-skilled labor set.
Geary Act of 1892 – extended the Exclusion Act
1902 the Exclusion act was made permanent

The US and Japanese entered into the Gentleman’s Agreement in 1907. This cooperative effort resulted in Japan no longer issuing passports to its citizens that planned on immigrating to the US (except for Hawaii) and the US agreeing to only allow the wives and children of current Japanese residents into the country. This Act was not as harsh as the Chinese Exclusion Act even though both the Chinese and Japanese were regarded as threats by the white population. http://aapcgroup11.blogspot.com/2009/12/gentlemens-agreement-of-1907.html http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/229394/Gentlemens-Agreement

African Americans
Black Codes
There were many laws and rules prior to the passing of the 13th Amendment which freed black slaves. The ones of concern are those enacted just before the passing of the 14th Amendment which would have granted equal status to the blacks, in theory. These new laws, The Black Codes, granted second class status to the newly freed slaves. The newly freed slaves’ hands were tied once again in perhaps a less pervasive hold. In essence, the Codes were the new quasi-slavery laws that the South instituted in order to maintain the control the whites had over the black population during Slavery. The blacks were now able to marry, own some property and had some access to the courts. However, they were still denied citizenship and could not testify against a white person. They were also required to sign yearly labor contracts or face jail time. These Codes were short-lived and once the 14th Amendment was passed, the Codes faded to the pages of history. http://home.gwu.edu/~jjhawkin/BlackCodes/BlackCodes.htm Jim Crow Laws
The Jim Crow Laws were separate from the Black Codes in that they were not intended quasi-slavery law but were enacted to ensure segregation. Many Southern states implemented requirements to vote that excluded almost all of the blacks and many of the poor white. These requirements varied from literacy tests to residency and taxes that many were not able to accommodate. These laws made it illegal to associate with anyone of a subordinate race and denied intermarriage. It required that businesses have facilities for their white clients separate from those for their black clients. Blacks were not allowed to be treated by white nurses. They were required to ride in separate train cars and street cars in most states. http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/jcrow02.htm http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/history/creating2.htm

Indian Americans
The Indian Americans were not immune to immigration discrimination. They may not have been coming from a foreign nation but they faced similar resentment and hatred from the white population. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 sought to move the Indians westward and away from the whites. President Jackson was responsible for enacting this heinous act that resulted in the death of thousands of Indians due to disease and stress of the journey which was over 1,000 miles long. This journey became known as The Trail of Tears. http://www.history.com/topics/trail-of-tears The 14th Amendment granted citizenship to the black population but continued to deny status to the American Indians. There was a period of ‘Allotment and Assimilation’ (1887-1928) where many of the treaties that created reservations were violated. The major issue of this period is that the lands held by the reservations were reduced significantly. The goal of many white settlers since the 16th century was to assimilate the primitive Indians to the European way of living. Even though this goal had not been successful in the past, The US government tried again in the 19th century to force the Indians into learning English, relinquishing their cultural ideals and practices and adopt the constitutions and ways of life already in place throughout the rest of the US. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 was passed to end the reduction of the reservation lands and allow the tribes to organize themselves while requiring them to adopt constitutions approved by the Federal government. http://jamesastarkeyjr.com/TopicAllotment.htm Mexicans
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was pivotal for the US in that we gained a large piece of land from Mexico. The treaty stipulated that Mexican citizens living in the new area would retain their property rights and be granted US citizenship. This did not happen and many were forced to vacate their homes. Much like their Chinese counterparts, the Mexicans that flocked to California for the Gold Rush were victims of brutal violence. They, too, were perceived as a threat to the whites living in California as the Mexicans were hard-working and successful at mining.
During Great Depression, there was coerced repatriation and deportation of over a million Mexican Americans as well as a ban on all other immigration. This was called the Mexican Repatriation program. The government sent officials door to door across the southwest to forcibly remove those that could not prove their citizenship. This forcible extrication of Mexican immigrants was not a one-time event. In 1954, the US began ‘Operation Wetback’ to remove illegal Mexican immigrants from our borders. This resulted in more than two million. Some left voluntarily and others were packed onto buses and shipped deeper into Mexico so as to discourage reentry.

http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/war/wars_end_guadalupe.html http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pqmyk http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pqo01

General As a prelude to the Immigration act of 1917, the Anarchist Exclusion Act of 1901 banned any known anarchists. If you were found to oppose government, you were arrested and then deported. This act was created in response to fear from the assassination of President McKinley. http://dictionary.sensagent.com/anarchist+exclusion+act/en-en/ The Immigration Act of 1917 had many layers to it. This act was created to reduce the amount of unworthy or ‘undesirable’ from other nations from entering our country. The list of undesirable qualities is quite long but includes those suffering from insanity, any contagious disease, a physical disability and alcoholics as well as those that were poor. The Act also required that any immigrant entering the country had to pass a literacy exam. While the above items are not restricted to race or ethnicity, this Act also denied access to those in the Asiatic Zone from entering the US. http://library.uwb.edu/guides/usimmigration/1917_immigration_act.html http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAE1917A.htm

In response to what the US considered an overwhelming deluge of immigrants, the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 was established to initiate National immigration quotas. Under this act, only 3% of the population of a foreign nation that currently resided in the US could emigrate each year from that nation. http://www.enotes.com/topic/Emergency_Quota_Act A major case that affected the status of many citizens was ‘US vs Bhagat Singh Thind’ which took place in 1923. Based on this case, The Supreme Court determined that Indians should be classified as non-white and subsequently stripped them of their citizenship as well as many others from southern Asia. The conflict was due to the fact that Thind had been granted citizenship contrary to the mandates in the Naturalization Act of 1870. Also, his citizenship went against the Immigration act of 1917 which prohibited citizenship (and even access to the US) to anyone from the Asiatic Zone which is where he had been born. Under the Naturalization Act, only whites and black were granted citizenship. Even though he had graduated college in the US and served in our military, his citizenship was removed. http://www.bhagatsinghthind.com/court.php http://knol.google.com/k/history-of-immigration-and-naturalization-in-the-united-states#

Another Act of hatred towards those that had immigrated into our country was the California Alien Land Law of 1913. It was determined that if you could not become a citizen, you were not able to own land. It was directed towards the Asian groups as their success was concerning to the whites but the Act covered all non-white residents.

http://web.me.com/joelarkin/MontereyDemographicHistory/1913_Land_Law.html
http://www.asianamericannation.com/alien-land-law.html