The U.S. Immigration Policy
How We Have Arrived Where We
Are Today
• Oscar Handlin
• “Once I thought to write a history of
the immigrants in America. Then I
discovered that immigrants were
American history.
• Four periods of the history of immigration to
the U.S.:
- the formative era, up to 1815
- the 19th century era, 1815-1924
- the era of restriction, 1924-1965
- the era of renewed immigration, since
1965
The Formative Era
• About one million
immigrants
• Majority came from two
areas: the British Isles and
Africa
• Other groups: Spanish,
French, Dutch and German
immigrants
• Voluntary and forced
immigration
• Slaves, indentured servants,
convicts
• 350,000 Africans
• About half of 650,000
Europeans who came during
this period were indentured
servants and convicts
The 19th Century Era of Immigration
(1815-1924)
• 1815: - end of Napoleonic Wars
- end of the War of 1812
• 1924: Immigration Act of 1924
• More than 36 million people came to the U.S. during
this period
• Europeans, immigrants from Asia
• Dominated by Germans (6 million between 1820
and 1924) and the Irish immigrants (4.5 million
between 1820 and 1930)
• Scandinavian immigrants (Swedes, Norwegians,
Danes): about 2 million between 1820 and 1920
• Chinese immigrants (about 300,000 between
1848 and 1882)
Why Immigration?
Push factors
• Living conditions in immigrants’
home countries
• Population growth in Europe
beginning in the 17th century
• Competition for food, land, jobs
• Religious persecution
• Political persecution
• Wars
• Natural disasters
Pull factors
•
•
•
•
Economic opportunities
Religious and political freedom
Land
Family reunification
Why Immigration Laws?
• Controversial issue in American history
• Public and political attitudes toward immigrants and
immigration have changed over time
• Open borders?
• Colonies, states, the federal government
• Immigration policies: restriction to no restriction to
restriction of certain groups (whoever is considered
“undesirable” at the moment) to “the law that
changed the face of America”
Why Immigration Laws?
• Countries of origin
• Legal immigrants; illegal immigrants; refugees;
asylum seekers
History of the U.S. immigration laws
• 1607 - 1882: colonial and state management of
immigration
• Some towns and colonies tried to restrict immigration
based on religion and ethnicity of immigrants; some
tried to attract different groups
• Criminals and the poor
• Head tax on all immigrants (PA in 1729)
• Founding Fathers’ opposition to widespread
acceptance of immigrants
• No federal restriction on immigration
• 1790 Naturalization Act
• 1795 Naturalization Act
• 1798 Alien Act and Naturalization Act
• States could regulate immigration – some did, some
did not → lack of uniformity
• 1875: SC decision called for federal regulation of
immigration
• 1820-1924 immigration
- 1820-1830: 151,824
- 1831-1840: 599,125
- 1841-1850: 1,713,251
- 1851-1860: 2,598,214
- 1861-1870: 2,314,824
- 1871-1880:
- 1881-1890:
- 1891-1900:
- 1901-1910:
- 1911-1920:
- 1921-1924:
2,812,191
5,246,613
3,687,564
8,795,386
5,735,811
2,344,599
“Old” v. “new” immigrants
Nativism
• Anti-immigrant, anti-foreign sentiment; hostility by
the native-born Americans toward immigrants
• Assimilation
• 1750s: Benjamin Franklin and others were concerned
that German immigrants were taking over PA
• 1840s, 1850s: nativists called for restrictions on the
immigration of Irish and Germans
• 1880s, 1890s: Chinese and Japanese immigrants
• 1910s, 1920s: immigrants from southern and eastern
Europe
• 1970s, 1980s: refugees from the Vietnam War
• 1990s, 2000s: Mexicans
• Presence of nativist movements and
organizations
• Know-Nothings (1850s)
• American Protective Association (1880s1890s)
• Immigration Restriction League (1890s-1920s)
• Ku Klux Klan (1920s)
Members of the Order of the Star Spangled Banner had to be native-born Protestants
and they had to believe in “resisting the insidious policy of the Church of Rome, and all
other foreign influences against the institutions of our country, by placing in all offices in
the gift of the people, whether by election or appointment, none but native-born
Protestant citizens.”
1882 - 1921: the first period of federal
management of immigration
• 1875: prostitutes
• 1882: “lunatics” and “idiots,” convicts and those
likely to become public charge were to be denied
entry + Head tax of 50 cents imposed on each
immigrant
• 1882: Chinese Exclusion Act
• 1891: polygamists and “persons suffering from a
loathsome or a dangerous contagious disease”
• 1917 law: pre-inspection at the point of departure;
literacy test; “Asiatic Barred Zone”
1921 - 1965: the restrictive era
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Immigration to the U.S. resumed after WWI
Anti-immigrant sentiment
Calls for restrictions in immigration
Renewal of nativism
German-Americans
Red Scare
Immigrants from southern and eastern Europe
Catholics, Jews, different languages
• 1921: the First Quota Act
(Emergency Quota Act) – it
limited immigration in any
given year to 3% of each
nationality that lived in the
U.S. in 1910
• 1924: the Second Quota Act
(National Origins Act) – limited
immigration in one year to 2% of
each nationality that lived in the
U.S. in 1890
• No immigration from Asia
• No restrictions on immigration
from countries in the Western
Hemisphere
• 70% - GB, Ir, Ger
• Canada, Mexico
• Mexican immigrants
• The Great Depression
• Repatriation program was
sponsored by the U.S.
government
• Availability of jobs in the
U.S. during WWII
• California
• Bracero program
• Agreement between the
U.S. and Mexican
governments
• Minimum wage, living and
working conditions
• 200,000 during WWII
• Seasonal agricultural workers
• Border control was loosened
• More people coming and finding
work in other areas as well
• Many stayed more than a year
• This program was stopped in
1947
• Started again in 1951
• Korean War
• Ended in 1964
• Legal immigration of Mexicans
(apart from this program)
continued
•
•
•
•
1943: the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed
105
Beginning of relaxation of laws
Number of immigrants coming to the U.S. slowly
began to increase
Immigration reform and proposals for a
new law
•
•
•
•
•
The Great Depression, WWII, the Cold War
1950s, 1960s
Civil rights movement, freedom, democracy
Economic growth and prosperity
Could the U.S. keep the restrictive laws?
• 1952: McCarran-Walter Act
• Ended the policy of exclusion of different immigrant
groups from Asia including the Japanese and Koreans
in effect since the 1920s
• Race and ethnicity could no longer be used to prevent
immigration and naturalization
• Quotas were established for Asian countries
• Japan – 185; China - 105
• Truman vetoed the 1952 law
• 1953: Eisenhower called for an immigration law that
would “guard our legitimate national interests and be
faithful to our basic idea of freedom and fairness to
all”
• Kennedy: quota system is “nearly intolerable”
• Wanted a law that would “serve the national interest
and reflect in every detail the principals of equality
and human dignity to which our nation subscribes.”
The Immigration and Nationality Act
(1965)
1. Abolished national origins quota system, but did not
get rid of quotas completely
2. Established world quota limit
• Quota of 170,000 for the Eastern Hemisphere
• Quota of 120,000 for the Western Hemisphere
• Country limit of 20,000
• Unlimited number of immigrants who were
immediate relatives of the U.S. citizens
3. Created preference system for family reunification
and immigrants with skills, education
4. The government could not use race, sex, nationality,
place of birth when making decisions about issuing of
immigrant visas
• Johnson: "This bill we sign today is not a revolutionary
bill. It does not affect the lives of millions. It will not
restructure the shape of our daily lives.“ (October 3,
1965)
• It would repair “painful flaw in the fabric of American
justice.”
• Belief among supporters of the law that it would not
cause major changes in the U.S. immigration
• Quotas would not be used
• There would not be many people trying to enter the U.S.
through family reunification
• Europe
• Higher numbers of immigrants
• Transformation of ethnic and racial makeup of the U.S.
• Up to the 1960s, immigrants from Europe were
predominant group
• Beginning in the 1960s: European dominance in
immigration began to decline
• 1900: 90% of immigrants were from Europe; by the
1980s Europeans represented 11% of total number of
immigrants who came to the U.S.
• Growth in number of immigrants from two parts of the
world after 1965: Latin America and Asia
• Family reunification part
• High-tech sector
• Reduced return migration
• Increased illegal immigration
• 20,000 visas for Mexico (400,000 immigrants from
Mexico were coming per year before this law)
• 1976-1990: 35% of immigrants who came were
employed in white-collar jobs
• Service workers, laborers and semiskilled workers:
46%
• Where did most professionals and other white–collar
workers among immigrants come from?
• Great Britain, India, Canada, the Philippines, Taiwan,
Korea
• 76% of Mexican immigrants who came between
1971 and 1979 were laborers, service workers or
farmers (>76% between 1982 and 1990)
•
•
•
•
Refugees
Cuba (after 1959)
Southeast Asia (because of the Vietnam War)
Eastern and southern Europe (in the late 1980s and
1990s)
• 1980: Refugee Act – created a new system for
admission of refugees – their admission was
separated from the admission of non-refugee
immigrants
• 1971-1980: >500,000 people were admitted as
refugees
• 1981-1990: >1 million
• Immigration Act of 1986 (Immigration Reform and
Control Act)
• Issue of illegal immigration
• 1986: three to five million illegal immigrants in the
U.S.
• This new law was to help people who entered the
U.S. illegally or stayed after their visas expired gain
legal status
• Those who were in the U.S. since January 1, 1982
would be able to apply for legal status and eventually
become the U.S. citizens
• Sanctions were to be imposed on employers who
knowingly employed illegal immigrants
• Illegal immigration
today: 12 million
• 50-60%
• 1986: 93 countries
• Who are these
people?
• How to deal with illegal
immigration today?
• Services?
• The Fourteenth
Amendment
• Who gets to be an American citizen?
• Changes between the late 18th century and today
• Citizenship exam