Introduction
The American society is famous for comprising of immigrants from almost every part of the world. Currently, the Chinese forms the largest part of all Asians immigrants in the United States. Consequently, the Asians are the leading group by population of immigrants in the nation closely followed by Hispanic immigrants. As of 2012, the population of Chinese Immigrants in the United States exceeded 2.1 million (Massey, & Pren, 2012). In many ways, the Chinese were pushed to leave Asian for the United States by common factors that brought other immigrants to America. Most of them came to pursue the American dream by working as gold miners in different gold mountains while others came to take advantage of the extensive economic opportunities in the nation. In addition, some escaped political instabilities and poverty back at home and came to America as refugees or contract workers. However, despite being in a new environment, the Chinese did not assimilate into the local culture, language, social institutions, and customs. The Chinese immigration into America can be categorized into three phases; 1849 to1882, 1882 to1865, and 1865 to 2018 (Massey, & Pren, 2012). Since 1882, nevertheless, the Chinese immigrant community has suffered some the worst oppressions and rejections than any other group of the US immigrants today. This paper explores different events that have affected the lives and immigration pattern of the Chinese immigrants in America. It looks into the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Repeal of Chinese Exclusion Act of 1943, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.
Event 1: The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act
The initial tide of Chinese Immigrants arrived in America in early 1849. As years passed, thousands of Chinese males abandoned their rural countries and headed to West America in search of job opportunities. Most of them found jobs as mineral and metal miners, while others worked as machine operators in manufacturing industries, fish industry, as well as provided labor for swamplands reclamation, and agricultural fields. By 1882 before the Chinese Exclusion Acts was enacted, the population of the Chinese immigrants in the United States was approximately 110,000 (Soennichsen, 2011).
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After the Congress approved the Chinese Exclusion Act, the then President of America, Chester A. Arthur signed the bill into law in 1882. As such, this act became the first law of its type to explicitly bar the immigration of people from a specific nationality. The act suspended the immigration of both the unskilled and the skilled Chinese laborers already working in the mountain mines from coming to the country. This act was followed by several Amendments that saw to it that those Chinese who had for one reason or the other left the country would enter the county. Initially, the act was meant to curb the immigration of the Chinese population for ten years. On the contrary, the Act was extended for ten more years until 1902 following the 1892 Geary Act. The Geary law mandated all the immigrants to process and carry identification cards. Otherwise, they would be deported (Soennichsen, 2011). In 1902, the Congress extended the policy for ten more years. However, in 1904, the policy was made permanent. The Chinese Exclusion Act and the subsequent amendment were a product of an extensive anti-Chinese movement in America in the second half of the nineteenth century. As a result of their hard work in all sectors, particularly the gold mines, the Chinese were viewed as threats to the job security of the locals. As such, they were met with vigorous hostilities that gradually compelled them to move to urban cities such as San Francisco (Lee, 2015). This relocation was a death sentence to the Chinese immigrants as they were limited to undertaking the dirtiest and the hardest jobs in the cities.
In many respect, this Chinese Exclusion Act had a far-reaching impact on the Chinese community in the United States. Not only did the act curb the population of the immigrants, but it also ensured that those who had left did not have access back to the county. In the 1900 US census, the Chinese immigrant population reduced from 105,465 to 89, 864. This number further decreased to 61639 by 1920 (Lee, 2015). The government also placed them under torturous scrutiny often dying them entry into the nation on baseless grounds. From a community perspective, the Chinese immigrants underwent a drastic transformation. The government scrutiny, as well as the hostilities they encountered, tore their families apart on top of destroying their businesses. The Exclusion Act also established a bachelor society among the Chinese-immigrants thanks to firm immigration restriction on female Chinese. The Act also raised two categories of people among the Chinese society. A part of them adopted different means to fight the exclusion policy through court petitions and the media. On the other hand, the other part chose to smuggle their way in America from Mexico and Canada (Klug, 2010). Unexpectedly, the policy had some positive impacts on the Chinese immigrants. It enlightened them and pushed them to fight for their rights through legal means. However, the Chinese Exclusion Act ended the Open immigration policy for the Chinese nationalities and introduced government-monitored immigration.
Event 2: The Repeal of Chinese Exclusion Act of 1943
The 1943 Repeal of Chinese Act was a great relief to the Chinese immigrant community. Approved by the Congress, this policy sought to reverse the apparent discriminatory regulation of immigrant Chinese nationalities. However, this policy did not do much for those outside the country. The United States laid down several measures that ensured that even in the absence of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the entry of Chinese nationalities was practically impossible (Lee, 2015). For instance, the 1924 Immigration act saw to it that all people who were not eligible to US citizenship were banned from entering the country including the Chinese. Nevertheless, the Repeal of Chinese Exclusion Act was a relief to Chinese immigrants especially those with relatives in the nations.
However, the repeal of this policy did not entirely end government’s discrimination against the Chinese-immigrants. It adopted the 1924 Immigration Act’s quota system to curb Chinese immigrant’s population (Lee, 2015). On the contrary, to other immigrants, the government calculate Chinese’s quota based on race. Consequently, only 105 Chinese were be allowed into the country annually irrespective of their nation of origin.
This policy had a far-reaching impact on both the US and the Chinese immigrants. It lifted the sixty-year-old immigration ban on the Chinese immigrants although it regulated the number of those who could enter America. Moreover, the entry qualification standards were raised to the educated, student and teachers (Lee, 2015). Most importantly, this policy paved the way for the 1946 amendments that allowed Filipino and Asian-Indians to immigrate the United States.
Event 3: Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952
Just like the Repeal of Chinese Exclusion Act of 1943, this Act retained the 1924 Immigration Act’s quota system. This act also completely lifted the immigration ban of all Asians to the US. In addition, the act adopted a skill-set based preference and family reunification system in admitting immigrants into the country (Rausa, 2012). The act introduced new national quotas at the rate of one-six of the 1920 immigrant’s population.
This act a long-awaited event to the Chinese community. This is because it reversed all the remaining restriction of Chinese immigration to America as well as lifted all laws denying the immigrant's naturalization citizenship (Rausa, 2012). Nevertheless, the policy retained the race-based quota system as well as introduced labor certification to curb immigrant’s job competition with the locals.
Event 4: The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
Passed in 1965, this act was an upgrade of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. It revolutionized the immigration into the United States by lifting the nation-origin, race, and ancestry requirements. The law also saw more educated, and skilled immigrants come to America as it retained the skill-sets preference system. In addition, the policy excluded the immediate relatives of the immigrants from the quota system. The policy ended the structured racial oppression of the Chinese immigrants. As a result, their population has been increasing since then to date.
Conclusion
More than any other immigrant group, Chinese immigrants have endured a government supported racial oppression since their arrival in the United States in 1849. Not only have they encountered physical oppression but also structural discrimination approved by the Congress. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 had a devastating impact on their population as well as their lives. Not only did it take away all their entry rights into the country, but it also pushed them to cities where they were forced to do dirty and hard work. The Repeal of Chinese Exclusion Act of 1943 brought relief to the Chinese immigrant community by lifted the exclusion act. However, it introduced race-based quota system that curbed the population of Chinese immigrants in the country. The 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act only eased the immigration policies of the 1943 Repeal of Chinese Exclusion Act. However, the Immigration and Nationality Act paved the way for Chinese Immigrants to the US by lifting all immigration barriers. As a result, the population of Chinese immigrants in America has been growing since then. Moreover, the skill-sets preference system has established two categories of Chinese immigrants in the US. One group consists of the educated immigrants while the other one comprises of refugees.
References
Lee, E. (2015). The making of Asian America: A history (First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition. ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster.
Rausa, Bettina (2012). "Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (US)." Encyclopaedia of Immigrant Health . Springer New York, 2012. 884-885
Klug, T. A. (2010). The immigration and naturalization service (INS) and the making of a border-crossing culture on the US–Canada border, 1891–1941. American Review of Canadian Studies , 40 (3), 395-415.
Massey, D. S., & Pren, K. A. (2012). Unintended consequences of US immigration policy: explaining the post‐1965 surge from Latin America. Population and development review , 38 (1), 1-29.
Soennichsen, J. (2011). The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 . ABC-CLIO.
