Steve Plua
Professor Graves
English 2150
April 17, 2019
Changes and effects of Immigration Policies
Migrations into the United States have been a part of the history of the country for a long time. There have been many laws that would restrict the access of immigrants coming to the United States; however, the immigrant’s desire to start a new life does not let these new laws stop them. These policies would change numerous times and adapt to new forms of immigration from different countries. These changes occurred throughout the late 1800’s, through the 1900’s and into the 2000’s. It had affected millions of different people and the United States themselves, thus creating an internal tension within the country. Although the country had not focused on immigration in the 1700’s, in 1875 the Supreme Court declared immigration as a federal issue. From there on was the start of numerous policies that would reduce the amount of people that were allowed into the country.
Immigration policies have drastically changed throughout history due to the excessive influx of immigrants from many countries. The history of these laws started in the 18th century with the enactment of the Naturalization Act of 1790. According to Edward J. W. Park, “the first U.S. Naturalization Act is enacted, stipulating that only “free white persons” can gain American citizenship” (Park). This was the first law of its kind that allowed people in the United States to gain citizenship. However, it discriminated other ethnicities in that it only allowed free white men to gain citizenship. This would also restrict refugees from other countries seeking asylum, from entering the United States. The cause of the Naturalization Act of 1790 was due to the excessive amount of French and Irishmen coming from their homeland. According to Elliott Robert Barkan, “The Federalists, generally suspicious of the French Revolution [at the time], worried that these refugees might bring radical revolutionary politics to the United States.” (Barkan). The effect on congress was that the fear of a revolution made both parties, Federalists and Democratic-Republicans, to question whether or not it was a good idea to allow these types of individuals in. It would bring more problems into the newly formed U.S government. Since they did not have much enforcement on immigrations, they decided to make it harder to come in and become a citizen. The other group of refugees was the Irish who, with their arrival, created tensions between the two parties in the U.S government at the time. The Irishmen were escaping British rule and ended up splitting congress in half with whether or not interest with Britain would be favorable to them. (Barkan). Allowing them in would cut ties with Britain and create further tensions with them. These two refugee groups had their access limited in the United States, and as they were looking to get away from problems back at home, they faced new problems trying to move in. The Naturalization Act of 1795 would soon supersede this law 5 years later. Which showed how short-lived these laws would be. This new naturalization law was due to the excessive amount of immigrants gaining citizenship through this law. And with the fear of a possible uprising from revolutionist at an uncontrollable rate, they modified the 1790 law so that new restrictions were applied. These restrictions included but were not limited to a mandatory 5-year stay inside the United States apart from the previous 2-year rule, as well as have a good moral character apart from the previous good character rule. More rules were implemented however; the free white men policy was still enforced for citizenship. (Library of Congress).
Immigration policies would soon start to progress onto other ethnicities and allow more diverse communities to gain citizenship in the United States. Although this didn’t directly affect new immigrants coming into the country, it did allow residents that were “born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside” (Legal Information Institute). This was the implementation of the 14th Amendment in 1868 after several decades of only “free white men” it eventually allowed African Americans, who were former slaves, to be able to become citizens of the United States. This followed the 13th Amendment in 1865, which outlawed slavery. This was a new uprising for African Americans as they were now given freedom from being inferior to their white masters. Although it allowed African Americans to be free, according to Steve Byas, “Congress, controlled by the Republican Party, was concerned about the increased representation in the House of Representatives as a result of the abolition of slavery”. Now that African Americans were allowed to become citizens, it also allowed them to have the right to vote.
With the implementation of the 14th amendment, it would reduce any state’s representation in congress if they prevented any African American from voting. In addition to this, it also tried to combat “Black Codes”, which was famous in southern states. Southern state governments, to severely limit the rights of African Americans who were former slaves, created these “Black Codes”. (Byas). These new amendments sparked another problem within the United States between Republicans and Democrats on the issue of representation. Both sides wanted a more say in government, however, each side could not get what they wanted. Even though, African Americans were allowed to become citizens and vote, it created an internal dispute on how Republicans and Democrats can discuss their differences in representation. These disputes escalated and further separated the North and the South on the issue of African American rights.
The introduction of the 14th amendment brought many forms of internal unrest within congress, however, this idea of diversity allowed the government to be more flexible with who was able to legally become a citizen.
As the government allowed less restriction to be placed for individuals wanting to
become citizens, or wanting to come to the country, millions of people started arriving in search for a new life. The government in response to this acted quickly especially due to many states passing different immigration laws after the Civil War. The Supreme Court of the United States decided that regulations of immigration policies were now a federal responsibility. It would now take complete control of this new influx of immigrants. Another main reason of this declaration by the Supreme Court was that many cities worsened economically, forcing the federal government to take control. (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services). The first few policies enacted was to directly prevent Chinese people from immigrating to the United States. In 1882, two major policies were passed to limit the amount of people that were able to come to the United States. The first policy was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which according to SangHea Kil, “was the first time in US American history that a policy was adopted to exclude immigrants based on their race and nationality. Initially, the Act barred Chinese laborers, skilled or unskilled, from entering the USA for 10 years, with the exception of merchants, students, teachers, and travelers”. This was a major step into new immigration policies, as previous policies never directly attacked one single nationality. Moreover, this policy would continue for decades as the government restricted immigrants from China. The Chinese Exclusion Act was also implemented in a way to prevent unwanted people from coming to the country. However, this solely prevents one nationality from entering and was unfair for them.
The effects of this on the Chinese were tremendous as it negatively affected their lifestyles for the ones that were already in the United States. According to SangHea Kil, “The Chinese who had already immigrated were required to register with authorities and carry identification at all times. Congress then extended the Act in 1904 indefinitely”. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 applied excessive pressure on those who were already residing in the United States. Unlike others they had certain rules put upon them even though they were in the country prior to the creation of the law. The act scaled on for several decades towards Chinese individuals until it was finally repealed in 1943. However, the only reason it was repealed by Congress was due to the fact that China became an ally to the United States when they entered World War II. (Kil). If this were not the case, it would have been very likely that the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act would have occurred years later. Since it started in 1882 and lasted until 1943, the act would not have been taken down due to the excessive immigration that was still occurring in the United States at the time.
The other major policy that was implemented was the Immigration Act of 1882 that according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) “levied a head tax of fifty cents on each immigrant and blocked (or excluded) the entry of idiots, lunatics, convicts, and persons likely to become a public charge”. The Immigration Act of 1882 was also a way for the federal government to gain a source of income from these individuals coming to the country, as well as finding a new way to protect the citizens of America. The prevention of lunatics, convicts and “idiots” were a tremendous step in protecting public safety since before they allowed anyone in. Although the policy prevented further immigration, it did justify itself in protecting society from unwanted people. This policy was enacted just six months after the Chinese Exclusion Act so both policies limited the amount of immigrants that were allowed into the country.
According to David Felsen, the result of both these immigration policies being enacted relatively close to one another, made congress restrict American companies from hiring future European immigrants. It also severely reduced the number of individuals coming in from 5.2 million in 1880-1890 to about 3.7 million in 1890-1900’s. (Felsen). Another dilemma rising from these new laws was the rise of xenophobia. Politicians began to speak “about the ‘new immigrants’ being less intelligent and less easy to integrate than the ‘old immigrants.’… In this period, Congress also proposed imposing literacy tests as a means to bar immigrants.” (Felsen). Hostility towards new immigrants coming to the United States rose and began to spark a major anti-immigration movement in politics and in society. Politicians were badmouthing new individuals coming into the country in order to further create new restrictions and gain further publicity for their case.
However, the Immigration Act of 1882 would also lead to more policies that would expand on these specific ideas of banishment. So in a way, it was beneficial for the United States to implement the Immigration Act since it led to the new Immigration Act of 1891. These expanded ideas included “polygamists, individuals convicted of crimes of moral depravity, and those with contagious diseases that posed a threat” (Ballotpedia). Such as before, the government found a new way to implement more safety with these new immigration laws. It was able to protect public health as well as only allowing individuals with a good moral character. With this new policy, it seemed to have only affected the ones that pose a threat to the nation, rather than just wanting to come to the United States. Additionally, according to Ballotpedia, “The law also created the first federal agency dedicated to enforcing immigration law, the Office of the Superintendent of Immigration within the Treasury Department”. The federal government noticed that with more immigration policies being implemented as well as new immigrants coming in, they had to find new ways to enforce the rules made. Since at this time two new policies were made almost simultaneously, they had to prevent Chinese people, lunatics, criminals, polygamists and much more.
The next major immigration policy made in the United States was the 1924 National Origins Quota Act. The policy, according to the Government Publishing Office, “restricted [immigrants] by assigning each nationality a quota based on its representation in past U.S. [1890] census figures”(1). It only allowed visas up to 2% of the total amount of people of each nationality according to the 1890 census. This was the first time the United States allowed a certain amount of visas to be allowed to different nationalities. Since visas were primarily used for this new law, only immigrants with granted visas were allowed into the United States. With the visa, however, immigrants were allowed to permanently move to the United States instead of just staying for a temporary time as it is now. Additionally, immigrants that just wanted to come to the country for a short time or temporary stay were allowed to apply for a nonimmigrant visa.
The National Quota Act also began to focus primarily on families of immigrants and citizens in the United States. Since the 1924 National Quota Act was a refurbishment of the 1921 Quota Act, it prioritized individuals who have family that were citizens in America. By having family here, they were either exempted from the 2% system or were granted preference in the visa selection process. (GPO). The federal government was now focusing on keeping families together and allowing them to be able to experience life in America with their family. However, since this new act was during the Great Depression, according to Population Bulletin, “immigration fell from Europe sharply in the 1930’s because there was few U.S jobs available.” (26). People who had immigrated to the United States had begun to take over numerous jobs available in the United States at the time. This negatively affected both citizens in the U.S and Mexican Americans who were already considered citizens. Since the Great Depression led to a tremendous economic downfall of the U.S economy, there were very limited jobs available. Population Bulletin states that it led to the “repatriation of some 400,000 Mexicans living in the United States, in order to open jobs for Americans. More Mexicans were sent back to Mexico during the 1930’s, than had immigrated in the 1920’s.” (26). In order to sustain job availability for Americans, Mexican- Americans were forced back to their country even though they had the legal right to stay. Not only did the national Quota Act of 1924, reduce the amount of Europeans that were allowed to come to the United States legally, it also eventually forced a majority of Mexican Americans to be sent back to their country. This quota system would also soon come to an end with the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 that eliminated it.
The 1965 Act did eliminate the 2% limitation of visas on nationalities; however, it established a worldwide limit on immigration. The limit, which has still been imposed as of 2016 according to the American Immigration Council allowed 675,000 permanent immigrants. Moreover, this new policy also enacted certain criteria for the amount of visas issued to individuals. Since it kept the basis of keeping family together, it allowed immigrants who have family that are citizens, to be prioritized in the selection process. The next group to be prioritized was the ones that had family in the United States that were legal residents. (Ballotpedia). The government did their best to have families together even though they tried to minimize the amount of immigrants coming to the United States. Although it was unfair for the immigrants that had no family or relative in the country, it did allow immigrants to continue to stick together and not be separated. The government also went along the lines to also allow skilled laborers to come to the United States as well as educated individuals (Ballotpedia). To be able to migrate to the United States, you were expected to stand out within your community and have the determination to come. These restrictions made it harder for immigrants to get visas, however it was an acceptable way to allow only the best to come. The immigrants that had family in the United States had an easier way to get visas, which would be more problematic since they were not severely checked for being professional and educated as the other immigrants.
The next major immigration policy came with the presidency of Barack Obama and his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2012 with an executive order. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, DACA “resulted in renewable two-year grants of protection from deportation—plus work permits and identity documents—for approximately 700,000 illegal aliens who arrived in the country as children.” (CIS). Barack Obama tried to implement many immigration policies that would help immigrants inside the United States as well as parents who had children that were U.S. citizens. According to Amy Hsin and Francesc Ortega this positively affected immigrants and the nation in that it increased the participation in the United States labor force, decreased poverty in households, and “increased the economic and social incorporation of recipients by allowing them increased opportunities to open bank accounts and obtain credit cards”. (Hsin, Ortega). This allowed more freedom among immigrants to use the benefits the United States had to offer. Although these children weren’t considered citizens, it allowed them to not be able to be deported for 2 years. However, President Obama received tremendous backlash from several states and congressman who were opposed to immigration. Barack Obama tried to implement these laws with executive power, however was unsuccessful with so much criticism towards him. Obama’s idea for Deferred Action for Parents of Americans was also heavily criticized and ignored. (CIS).
These policies would eventually come to an end with the election of Donald Trump and his campaign pledge of ending immigration by putting a border between the United States and Mexico. He also was able to gain a lot of favoritism with his campaign promise and was able to unexpectedly win the election. According to Scott Calvert, one of Donald Trump’s policies involved attacking “Sanctuary Cities” for giving hospitality to immigrants. Donald Trump was opposed to cities such as Boston, New York and San Francisco for protecting immigrants. Trump had signed an order to cut off federal funds to these cities back in 2017. Although “Trump has limited power to strip federal funding from these cities without the express approval of Congress, he could have more leeway to suspend or slow the allocation of discretionary grants, particularly those related to criminal justice…” (Calvert). While Donald Trump decides on how to control the amount of immigrants allowed into the states, it directly attacks some of the major cities in the United States. He threatens to reduce funding’s; however, the mayors from these cities stand firm on their decisions to be a sanctuary city.
On the other hand, Trump has gained support from areas such as Milwaukee County to help enforce these new immigration polices. For example, “spokesperson for Milwaukee County, Wis., Sheriff David Clarke Jr. said his department will continue to work with federal agents to enforce federal immigration laws.” (Calvert). Trump has gained support from several states such as Wisconsin to be able to fight immigration. Most states support Trump, but there has been opposition from major cities and states that are willing to continue to fight for immigrants. This brings more conflict within congress between Republicans and Democrats over the issue of immigration.
While there has been positive and negative feedback from Trump’s new decisions, one of the most surprising was the ban on seven Muslim countries. According to EFE World News Service, the countries included are Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. However, U.S Courts have banned part of the executive order than Trump has signed a week after his presidency. They stated “According to the ACLU, between 100 and 200 people have been detained upon arrival at US airports since Trump signed the order, although the government is yet to confirm the figures.” And “The ACLU, a nationwide civil rights organization, filed the suit after two Iraqi citizens with valid visas to enter the US were detained at the John F. Kennedy airport in New York.” (World News Service). The policy, although not confirmed at the time yet, immediately caused several disruptions in innocent people lives that had valid visas. While Trump had a good sense of mind in trying to alleviate the dangers of terrorism in the United States, the executive order would be affecting thousands of people that have no affiliation to terrorist acts. The New Statesmen claims “Mr. Trump’s executive order is an act of economic, cultural and diplomatic self-harm. It is also almost certainly unconstitutional, violating the prohibition against religious discrimination”. However, Donald Trump seems to be going against the rulings of the U.S judges and trying to get his policy approved no matter what. Although he is the president, he must follow the rules of the United States constitution and not go over judicial rulings.
Even though Donald Trump has been trying to enforce his new policies, it seems to be more directed towards Muslims when he initially started. Back in the 1800’s the Chinese Exclusion Act was aimed directly at Chinese decedents. Now in contemporary times, Donald Trump had primarily focused his immigration polices towards Muslims. His reasoning behind it, which was stated in the New Statesmen, was mostly to reduce terrorism. He thinks that completely banning traveling from these seven countries would reduce acts of terrorism or at least suppress it. However, not seeing the full picture, it affected thousands of already traveling Muslims coming into the United States. Both of these policies have been attacks towards one specific community. The Chinese Exclusion Act did not serve it purpose rightfully and just created more problems for the United States. Possibly the same were to happen if these bans or other policies similar to this one, would be created and enforced in the country.
Immigrants from all around the world have come to the United States in search for new life for themselves and their family. New policies have been created and superseded for the better or for the worst for immigrants and the country. However, throughout the centuries these changes have affected millions of immigrants and legal immigrants and the United States itself. The policies have either positively or negatively affected these groups. As we continue to grow as a nation, new laws will be implemented to further restrict immigrants or allow them to come and reside here in the United States.
How it helps my proposal
In my research I was able to find out many different aspects in what changed America with immigration policies in the last 300 years dating back to its first policy. With our proposal of civil unrest in a possible movie script, my research can help in how different new comers affect the current situation. We thought about pitching a movie in how 2 different societies have a dispute over something. I feel like my assignment can help outline in how two different societies come together or argue with one another. Although i researched immigration, it can definitely be integrated in a different scenario of other communities fighting for a cause.
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