The immigration debate

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The immigration debate

• The history of immigration in the United States

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• The history of the present King of Great Britain
  is a history of repeated injuries and
  usurpations, all having in direct object the
  establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these
  States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to
  a candid world.
• He has endeavoured to prevent the population of
  these States for that purpose obstructing the
  Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners refusing
  to pass others to encourage their migrations
  hither, and raising the conditions of new
  Appropriations of Lands.

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Early years

• 6,000 a year (numbers are uncertain)
• French refugees (slave revolt in Haiti)
• After 1820 federal records were kept
• Irish (famine of 1845-1849)
• .5 million Germans
• 1850 first census to ask for place of birth
• 90 of population was native born

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Timeline of US immigration laws

• 1776 - Unrestricted
• 1795 - Naturalization Act - Citizenship limited
  to "free white persons" residing in the US who
  renounce allegiance to former country
  
• 1798 - Alien Sedition Acts - President is given
  the right to expel "aliens" deemed dangerous to
  country (only lasted a few years)
  
• 1850s - Emergence of "Know Nothing Party" seeking
  to "purify" the nation by restricting immigration
  and altering citizenship requirements (lasted
  less than 10 years)
• 1882 - Chinese Exclusion Act - Fear of
  competition from Chinese workers led to
  prevention of any further Chinese entering the US
  
• 1885 - Contract Labor Laws - Prohibited contracts
  for cheap foreign labor

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• 1892 - Ellis Island, NY set up to regulate
  immigration
  
• 1917 - Immigration Act of 1917 - Further
  restrictions on immigration, expanding the
  classes of foreigners excluded from US. It
  imposed a literacy test and designated an Asiatic
  Barred Zone.
• 1921 - Congress establishes first quota system
  for immigrants
  
• 1924 - National Origins Act reduced quotas of
  immigrants deemed "less desirable", such as
  Russian (Jews) and Italians (Catholics)
  
• 1942 - Bracero program
• 1948 - Displaced Persons Act
• 1952 - Immigration and Nationality Act -
  Consolidation of immigration laws and abolished
  Asian Barred Zone.
  
• 1953 - Refugee Relief Act
• 1954 - Operation Wetback

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• 1965 - Immigration and Nationality Act - national
  origin quotas abolished, annual limit imposed on
  visas for immigrants
  
• 1980 - Refugge Act increased overall refugee
  quotas
  
• 1986 - Immigration Reform and Control Act granted
  lawful permanent residency to over 2.7 million
  undocumented immigrants
  
• 1990 - Immigration Act established categories of
  employment and placed cap of number of
  non-immigrant workers
  
• 1992 - Chinese Student Protection
• 1996 - Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
  Responsibility Act - imposted strict penalties
  against illegal immigration and expanded
  definition of deportable offenses

Selected text taken from www.ailf.org
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Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

• 1848
• Concluded the Mexican War
• Citizenship for residents
• 60,000 New Mexico
• 4,000 California

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The 20th. Century

• Mexican Revolution (1911-1929) drove close to 1
  million refugess across a porous border.
  
• Some returned during the Great Depression.

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The Evian Conference

• July 1938
• Failed to pass resolution protecting Jews in
  Germany.

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resistance

• In the past 50 years, polling data have charted
  a deepening opposition to immigration, linked in
  part, it appears, to economic concerns.
  

National Academy of Science study Smith, James
P. Barry Emondston, eds., The New Americans
Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of
Immigration (1997)
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Countries with the largest number of immigrants
in the US
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We are a nation of immigrants because

• 56 million people
• 20 of the population is either a first
  generation immigrant or has one or both immigrant
  parents.
  

Schmidley, Dianne, U.S. Census Bureau, Current
Population Reports, Series P23-206, Profile of
the Foreign-Born Population in the United States
2000, U.S. Government Printing Office,
Washington, D.C., 2001.
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Some definitions

• Citizen sworn loyalty to a nation
• Naturalization process by which citizenship is
  conferred
  
• period of continuous residence and physical
  presence in the United States
  
• residence in a particular USCIS District prior to
  filing
  
• an ability to read, write, and speak English
• a knowledge and understanding of U.S. history and
  government
  
• good moral character
• attachment to the principles of the U.S.
  Constitution and,
  
• favorable disposition toward the United States.

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Some definitions

• Resident intending to stay
• Undocumented lacking permission
• Illegal prohibited by law or accepted rules
• Guest worker foreign labor hired on temporary
  or permanent basis (Federal Guestworker Program)
  
• Economic migrant guest worker, foreign worker
• Resident alien foreign national living and
  working in the United States
  
• Refugee seeking asylum to escape persecution

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Some definitions

• Documents official papers that prove the
  existence of relationships and facts
  
• Green cards Lawful Permanent Residency
• Visa allows the bearer to apply for entry, does
  not grant the right to enter the US (BCBP)
  
• Citizenship membership in a political
  community
  
• Border geographic boundaries of political
  entities.
  

WASHINGTON October 1, 2006. (Washington Post) --
The Senate gave final approval last night to
legislation authorizing the construction of 700
miles of double-layered fencing on the
U.S.-Mexico border, shelving President Bush's
vision of a comprehensive overhaul of U.S.
immigration laws in favor of a vast barrier.
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Alien

• Any person not a citizen or national of the
  United States (USCIS)
  
• National a person owing permanent allegiance to
  a state
  

strange unknown dissimilar opposed inconsi
stent incongrous adverse not native outsi
der
outlander
Creature from outer space
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It all depends on your point of view

• Emigrate
• Immigrate
• migrate

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Something to think about

• What is the best way to describe the immigration
  history of the US?
  
• What is the current image of the immigrant?
  Why?
  
• In terms of ups and downs where are we in the
  historic cycles of immigration?

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• October 1, 2006  
• Congress okays 700 mile border fence with Mexico
  WASHINGTON October 1, 2006. (Washington Post)
  -- The Senate gave final approval last night to
  legislation authorizing the construction of 700
  miles of double-layered fencing on the
  U.S.-Mexico border, shelving President Bush's
  vision of a comprehensive overhaul of U.S.
  immigration laws in favor of a vast barrier.

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Resources on line

• http//www.latinamericanstudies.org/
• Latino studies program at Indiana Univerisity
• http//www.cis.org/ (Center for Immigration
  Studies)
  
• Pro-immigrant low-immigration think tank
• http//steinhardt.nyu.edu/immigration/about/lisa.h
  tm (L.I.S.A. Longitudinal Immigrant Student
  Adaption Study at NYU)
  
• http//www.ccis-ucsd.org/PUBLICATIONS/working_pape
  rs.htm
  
• (working papers of Center for Comparative
  Immigration Studies at University of California
  at San Diego)
  
• http//hapi.ucla.edu (Hispanic American
  Periodicals Index)
  
• Database of Latin American journal articles