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Through a Looking Glass

America’s Immigration Policies. Through a Looking Glass. The American Trail.

zia-wells
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Through a Looking Glass

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  1. America’s Immigration Policies Through a Looking Glass

  2. The American Trail The United States of America has had a long history of immigration, from the first Spanish and English settlers to arrive on the shores of the country to the waves of immigration from Europe in the 19th century to immigration in the present day. Throughout American history immigration has caused controversy.

  3. Early immigrationAsians and Africans were excluded from entering the USA legally (except as chattels in the latter case). For most Europeans, however, immigration was relatively free and unrestricted until the 1800s and the onset of the Industrial Revolution.1790 – 3.2 million Europeans in 1790 / 700,000 Africans (75% English / 7% German)

  4. Migration Patterns • 1629 – 1640 The Great Migration 20,000 Puritans emigrated from England, most settling in the New England area of North America. (Their settlements later spread to the New York and the upper Midwest.)

  5. Population of British Colonies 1715 – 2,150.000 • 1609 - 1664, some 8,000 Dutch settlers peopled the New Netherlands, which later became New York and New Jersey. • 1645 - 1670, some 45,000 Royalists and/or indentured servants left England to work in the Middle Colonies and Virginia • 1675 - 1715, the Quakers made their move, leaving the Midlands and North England behind for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. The Quaker movement became one of the largest religious presences in early colonial America. • Germans migrated early into several colonies but mostly to Pennsylvania, where they made up a third of the population by the time of the Revolution. • 1710 - 1775, around 250,000 Scotch-Irish left Ulster (the northern province of Ireland) and settled in western Pennsylvania, Appalachia and the western frontier: these places would later become Kentucky and Tennessee

  6. Chattels – Indentured Servants – Convicts Arrive 1790 – Slaves in United States (slavery importation becomes illegal in 1808) Article 1, section 9 of the Constitution 1799-1770 Britain ships convicts to Australia but we get approximately 50,000 1845-1851 1.8 million Irish immigrate to America (the Great Potato Famine) 1776 – 1849 Germans make up 1/10 of the total population of 20 million (fled famine and failed revolutions of 1848 1850 – 1940 5 million more Germans arrive (1881-1885) and settle in the Midwest / French Canadians arrive in mass 900,000 and settle in New England 1820 – 1980 7.3 million Italians arrive

  7. The Laws • 1795 - Naturalization Act restricted citizenship to “free WHITE persons: who had resided in the country for 5 years • - banned Asians (not repealeduntil 1943) Anti – Coolie Act of California • 1868 - Burlingame Treaty encouraged temporary immigration of Asians to help with work but not become citizens • 1870 Whites and African Americans (XIV Amendment) gain citizenship but women, Native Americans and Asians were still excluded • 1882 - Chinese Exclusion Act forbade Chinese immigration entirely • 1882 - No lunatics, or infectious disease carriers allowed in • 1907 – Gentleman’s Agreement signed with Japan – no more Japanese in exchange for better treatment of those living in United States • 1901 – Anarchist Exclusion Act - kept people out for their political beliefs (a literacy requirement was added in the Immigration Act of 1917)

  8. National Quotas Are Established 1921 • - Emergency Quota Act established and based on the number of foreign born all ready here as verified by the 1910 census • 1924 – Immigration Act of 1924 changed the reference of the Emergency Quota Act from the 1910 census to the 1890 which then greatly reduced the number of Southern and Eastern Europeans. Western immigrants were admitted outside of the quota system without hindrance • 1952 – Immigration and Nationality Act (McCarran- Walter Act) revised the quotas again. 1920 census used – yet most of the quota went to the Irish, Germans, and English • 1965 – Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments (Hart-Cellar Act) –abolished the system of national – origin quotas and the Western Hemisphere was limited to 120,000 per year / the Eastern Hemisphere to 170,000 – most had families here • 1996 – Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act AEDPA and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act increased categories of crime – which imposed deportation or detention for offenders – 1,000,000 have been deported since 1996

  9. Today California, New York, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, and Illinois have a combined immigrant populations that form 70% of the foreign born as of the year 2000. Much of the controversy today surrounds illegal immigration: expired visa’s, unlawful entry into the US… However, legal immigrants are also held accountable for “stealing” American jobs. High tech workers, specifically from India, are accused of accepting lower wages that push American workers out of jobs – however these same immigrants pay taxes and spend money while in the United States. Is it better to send the jobs off-shore where the corporations exporting jobs may not pass the savings on to the American consumer? Or should they be employed stateside and improve the American economy? You decide…

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