-
Gold Rush in California
Gold was discovered in California on this date. This caused for thousands of immigrants to enter into America, especially the Chinese. They were already in deep debt from the opium wars against the British that were occurring during this time (History.com Staff, 2018), so many Chinese immigrants packed up and came to America. They had hopes to either find gold and become rich for their home country or to find a job and slowly make money for themselves and their country. -
Foreign Miner’s Tax
After a crop failure in China, over 20,000 Chinese immigrants came through San Fransisco’s customs looking for work in the mining business (History.com Staff, 2018). After racial violence occurred between Chinese and white people, California imposed a foreign miner’s tax. Meant to specifically target Chinese immigrants, this tax forced any foreign miner to pay $3 a month. Although this meant to repel Chinese immigrants, it only caused more violence in California. -
People vs. Hall
In this Supreme Court case, it was ruled that the Chinese were not allowed to testify in court (History.com Staff, 2018). This made it impossible for the Chinese to testify and defend themselves against the violence that occurred. This was meant to drive them out of America, as they were taking American’s jobs in mining. The Chinese would not go back to their own country for fear of drowning in debt, and were being driven out of the country in America to protect the welfare of the Americans. -
Immigration Regulation
After states began to make immigration laws, the Supreme Court declared that the regulation of immigration would be a federal power, not a state power (US Services, 2015). This was likely because the Civil War had recently just ended in America and the Federal government wanted to control the state’s foreign affairs as much as possible. This included immigration, as shown above. -
The Chinese Exclusion Act
This act suspended Chinese immigration for 10 years and prohibited anyone of Chinese origin in naturalization (History.com Staff, 2018). This meant that nobody of Chinese origin was allowed into the US for 10 years, and any Chinese person currently in the Us would not be allowed citizenship. the Chinese Exclusion Act was put into place to protect the already US citizens, as well as to control the population of Chinese immigrants in California. -
Geary Act
This act extended the length of the Chinese Exclusion Act by 10 years, as well as required Chinese residents to carry documentation from the IRS (History.com Staff, 2018).This allowed America to deport any Chinese resident caught without their documentations. Even though the Chinese couldn’t go home without being in more debt and possibly going bankrupt, they took American’s jobs and money. They also caused multiple accounts of violence. This is why the Chinese had to pay a tax each month. -
Period: to
Mexican Immigration Needed
Because the Asians were unwanted in America, Mexicans became the go-to for easy labor (Gutiérrez, 2019). In this time period, Americans actually NEEDED for more Mexican immigrants into America because of the lack of labor they had been getting from Asian immigrants. This would later be the cause for a majority or foreigners in America being from Mexico. -
Anti-Japanese Movements
After the Chinese Exclusion Acts, there were lots of negative connotations towards the Asian community. This caused the Anti-Japanese movements to become widespread, as many Japanese immigrants began to reside in America (Burton, 2016). Americans also felt uneasy about the Japanese because of their victory in Russia, as this was the first defeat of a Western nation by an Asian Nation. -
Alien Land Law
California passed this law to prohibit ‘aliens ineligible for citizenship’ to own agricultural land (Burton, 2016). This was due to the Anti-Asian movements. Although at this point these immigrants were no longer causing harm, there was still tension due to the fear that they might. The Japanese had already had a victory against Russia, so Americans feared that they would in some way attack America as well. Many Japanese-Americans at this point just peacefully lived out their lives as farmers. -
Immigration Act
This act prevented more Japanese immigrants from entering into the US. This would cause a large generation gap in the Japanese cultures (Burton, 2016). America was just trying to prevent possible wars, as they did not want a defeat like Russia. They also didn’t want for the Japanese to end up as the Chinese had. The Japanese people in America at this point didn’t really have any connection to Japan other than their heritage and their beliefs, which is why there is now a gap in the generations. -
US Border Control
The US Border patrol was created to prevent Chinese immigration from Mexico (Gutiérrez, 2019). Although this was originally meant to keep Chinese immigrants out of the country, it would later be used in prohibiting illegal Mexicans from crossing the border into our country. While both of these types of immigrants are just coming into America looking for a better life, they caused violence and financial problems to Americans. -
Pearl Harbor Aftermath
Thousands of Japanese-Americans were put into internment camps, many of them not knowing what happened to the rest of their families. The interment camps were located in Montana, New Mexico, and North Dakota (Burton, 2016). There was no way for Americans to know if these people were giving information back to Japan. And there was no way for the Japanese-Americans to make the Americans believe that they no longer had any connection to Japan. This cause the Japanese-Americans to become scapegoats. -
Period: to
Mexican Immigration
In this time period a noticeable decline in wages and jobs for the working middle class white man (Gutiérrez, 2019). Searching for an answer, Americans turned to the ever growing population of Mexicans entering into the US. As one of the largest foreign groups in America, Mexicans left their lives in Mexico to better themselves and their family in America through working jobs and payments. Although this was good for them, the Americans were losing jobs and the economy in wages was declining. -
Period: to
Operation Endgame
Americans instead of being Anti-Asian are now considered anti-immigrants. This was because of the rapid decline of jobs and wages in the US, putting them through more debt and causing taxes to raise higher. Organizations such as ICE sought to detain and deport all illegal aliens and possible terrorists (Gutiérrez, 2019). This was also because of the terrorist attack not long before that from Middle Eastern forces. These reasons caused for immigration laws to become stricter. -
Citations (Part 1)
Burton, J., Farrel, M., Lord, F., & Lord, R. (n.d.). A Brief History of Japanese American Relocation During World War II (U.S. National Park Service). Retrieved from https://www.nps.gov/articles/historyinternment.htm
Early American Immigration Policies. (2013, September 26). Retrieved from https://www.uscis.gov/history-and-genealogy/our-history/agency-history/early-american-immigration-policies -
Citations (Part 2)
Gutiérrez, R. A. (2019, July 17). Mexican Immigration to the United States. Retrieved from https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/americanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-146
History.com Staff. (2018, August 24). Chinese Exclusion Act. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/chinese-exclusion-act-1882 -
Prediction
I predict that immigration will continue to be limited as it is right now. This is because our current president’s constantly pushing towards more immigration laws, because of the current state of American economy, and because of the Drug Wars going on between America and Mexico today. -
Analysis (Question 1)
The part of this issue that has changed the most overtime is who is being targeted as the problem immigrants. It first started with the Chinese, then with Asians as a whole, then with Mexicans, then with people from the Middle East, and then it recently went back to Mexicans. This is just because of the history and what was going on during that time. For the Chinese, it was the violence. For Japanese, fear of invasion. For Middle East, terrorism. And for Mexicans, job loss. -
Analysis (Question 2)
There hasn’t been much of a compromise to this issue in my findings, but rather instead just eventually allowing the Chinese and Japanese back into the country. -
Immigration Control Today
In the present, there are many more ways that immigration control is being handled in the US. Donald Trump is attempting to build a wall at the Mexican border. There are also more deportations and illegal immigration detainments than there has been in the years before. Although these people are just wanting to come to America and create a better life for themselves, many of them also bring in illegal drugs and take away from the average American’s wages.
