U.S. Immigration Policy in an Unsettled World (PDF)

2 U.S. Immigration Policy in an Unsettled World Part I: Immigration and the U.S. Experience T he generation that authored the Dec-...

2 U.S. Immigration Policy in an Unsettled World Part I: Immigration and the U.S. Experience T he generation that authored the Dec- laration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution traced its roots primarily to the Part I Definitions Immigration—moving to a country British Isles and other areas of northwestern with the intention of permanently living Europe. They welcomed the prospect of con- there. tinued immigration, but also sought to limit Emigration—leaving one’s country to who could become citizens. The Naturaliza- live somewhere else. tion Act of 1790 limited citizenship to free white people of “good moral character.” The Constitution itself said little about im- “ The bosom of America is open migration and citizenship other than to make to receive not only the opulent these issues the responsibility of Congress. and respectable stranger but the Before 1820, the United States did not even oppressed and persecuted of all bother to count how many newcomers reached nations and religions; whom we shall its shores by ship. Not until the ratification of welcome to a participation of all our the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 was citi- rights and privileges, if by decency zenship clearly granted to anyone born in the and propriety of conduct they appear United States, including African Americans. to merit the enjoyment.” (Native Americans were not admitted to full —President George Washington, citizenship until 1924.) December 2, 1783 The Nineteenth Century Even without an official policy, the United States proved to be a magnet for immigrants in the 1800s. For most of the cen- tury, a nearly ideal balance existed between the problems of Europe and the needs of the United States. In much of Europe, the forces of the Industrial Revolution, shifts in agricul- ture, and a soaring population left millions of people unable to make a living. In addition, a blight wiped out the potato crop in much of northwestern Europe in the late 1840s. Ire- land, hit particularly hard by the blight, lost half a million people to disease and starva- tion. Courtesy of Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Meanwhile, the United States expanded in both size and wealth throughout the 1800s. By 1848, the country stretched across the continent. Booming factories and abundant farmland seemed capable of absorbing an endless stream of immigrants. U.S. railroad companies actively recruited workers in Europe, while steamship companies depicted Turn-of-the-century immigrants approach New York. The Choices Program Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University www.choices.edu  U.S. Immigration Policy in an Unsettled World 3 a country of boundless oppor- tunity to spur ticket sales for the voyage across the Atlan- tic. Many immigrants began work as agricultural laborers, while others settled in cities and found jobs as servants or factory workers. Out west, immigrants found work in the growing mining industry. Between 1820 and 1880, 70 percent of immigrants to the United States came from Rob Rogers, Reprinted with Permission of UPS, Inc. Great Britain, Germany, and Ireland. The Irish were the first Roman Catholics to arrive in large numbers in what was largely a Protestant country. What was the Know- Nothing Party? Immigrants found not only opportunity in the United States, but often hardship and discrimination as well. As im- migrants poured into the United States, many “...Irish and Germans coming by Canada, New York, and New Orleans, [are] filthy, intemperate, U.S. citizens worried about the new arrivals. unused to the comforts of life.... The From the earliest days of the republic, there air seems to be corrupted....” had been anxiety about the social and political —New York Mayor Philip Hone, implications of immigration. Thomas Jefferson June 30, 1849 argued against welcoming the “servile masses of Europe,” fearing that they would transform Which immigrant groups arrived the U.S. people into an “incoherent, distracted at the turn of the century? mass.” The 1890 census revealed that the fron- The first organized opposition to open tier of the American West had been filled in. immigration emerged in the 1840s with the The most fertile land of the Great Plains and creation of the American Party, better known western valleys had been claimed by newcom- as the Know-Nothing Party because of the ers. At the same time, the industrial cities of secretiveness of its members. The Know- the Northeast and the Great Lakes region still Nothings claimed that Irish and German needed cheap, unskilled labor. immigrants, most of whom were Roman Catho- During the period from 1881 to 1920, the lic, would corrupt the country’s Protestant majority of newcomers came from southern heritage. The Know-Nothings used violence and eastern Europe, especially from Austria- to terrorize newcomers. Although the Know- Hungary, Italy, and Russia. These immigrants Nothings faded from the political arena before had different languages, cultures, and religions the Civil War, anti-immigrant feelings re- than immigrants from the British Isles. The mained strong among some groups. new wave of immigrants formed close-knit www.choices.edu  Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University  The Choices Program 4 U.S. Immigration Policy in an Unsettled World communities in major cities. Distinct enclaves of Italians, Poles, Jews, Greeks, and other ethnic groups peppered U.S. urban centers. By 1900, four out of five New Yorkers either were born abroad or were the children of im- migrants. Raymond O. Evans. 1916. Library of Congress, Division of Prints and Photographs. LC-USZ62-52584. In response to the new immigrant groups, anti-immigration forces in Congress sought to make literacy a requirement for entry to the United States. Since free public education was slow to advance in much of southern and eastern Europe, opponents of immigration ex- pected that a literacy test would stem the flow of newcomers from those regions. How were Asian immigrants received? While the eastern and central parts of the country experienced an influx of European newcomers, large numbers of Asian immi- grants arrived mainly in California. Between 1861 and 1880, almost two hundred thousand Chinese came to the United States, recruited for construction crews for the transcontinen- tal railroad. They soon found other kinds of jobs as well, and by the 1870s, they com- prised 20 to 30 percent of the labor force in California. Their willingness to work for low to restrict them. State law barred Asian im- wages caused other workers to lobby for laws migrants from marrying whites or testifying in court against whites. Riots in a number of Immigration and Race Immigrant groups in the United States represent diverse ethnic backgrounds and nationali- ties. Throughout history, immigrants have also been defined along racial lines. Like African Americans at the time, many immigrants who arrived during the Civil War or the period of Reconstruction that followed experienced racism and exclusion. In fact, some abolitionists drew attention to the poor treatment of immigrant groups alongside the cause of ending slavery. Im- migrants were often labeled “black” or “white” as a means of discrimination. More than skin tone, these labels were based on which region a person came from (Europe versus Asia or Africa). Following the turn of the century, immigrant communities continued to be defined by race. From California to Mississippi, immigrants, regardless of their status as legal or illegal, were segregated in schools and denied certain rights because they were not considered “white.” “ There are such things in the world as human rights.... Among these, is the right of locomotion; the right of migration, the right which belongs to no particular race, but belongs alike to all and to all alike.... It is this right that I assert for the Chinese and the Japanese and for all other varieties of men equally with yourselves, now and forever.... [W]hen there is a supposed conflict between humanity and national rights, it is safe to go on the side of humanity.” —Frederick Douglass, “Composite Nation” speech in Boston, Massachusetts, 1869 The Choices Program Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University www.choices.edu  U.S. Immigration Policy in an Unsettled World 5 western towns resulted in the deaths of dozens with people in the United States caught up of Chinese newcomers. in the nationalistic spirit of World War I, did In response to anti-Chinese sentiment, Congress override President Wilson’s veto, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in making literacy an entrance requirement. In 1882. This law prohibited more Chinese work- 1921, Congress passed another restrictive law, ers from entering the United States. Further creating limits on the numbers of immigrants laws led to a complete suspension of Chinese admitted from each country. These quotas immigration and prohibited those already in served as the foundation of the Immigration the country from sending for their family. The Act of 1924, more commonly known as the Chinese Exclusion Act set the stage for later National Origins Act. efforts to establish immigration restrictions on the basis of national origin. What was the 1924 National Origins Act? Japanese immigrants began arriving during The National Origins Act grew out of rec- this same period because, for the first time in ommendations presented to Congress in 1911 three hundred years, their government allowed by the Dillingham Commission, a group of sen- them to emigrate. Like the Chinese, they were ators who investigated the state and effect of known as hard workers who would work for immigration. Reflecting the mood of Congress, low wages. It was not long before they too the commission called for new regulations to became the victims of prejudice. There was reduce immigration. More importantly, it pro- talk of a “yellow peril” and the city of San posed limiting the number of immigrants to be Francisco created segregated schools, separat- accepted from each country. ing Asians from other children. The Japanese Many of the Dillingham Commission’s government protested to President Theodore suggestions found their way into the legisla- Roosevelt, but in what became known as the tion that followed. The National Origins Act Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907, Roosevelt of 1924 limited the annual immigration quota persuaded Japan to place restrictions on emi- of each European nationality to 2 percent of gration again. Discrimination against Asian its proportion in the U.S. population in 1890. immigrants in the United States continued. This had the effect of significantly reducing immigration by Italians, Hungarians, Poles, and other groups that only began coming to The Twentieth Century the United States in large numbers after 1890. The anti-immigration movement that The 1924 act also affirmed earlier laws that emerged at the end of the nineteenth century kept immigration from Asia to a minimum. drew upon the ideas advocated by the Know- While the quota for immigrants from Great Nothings half a century earlier and gained Britain and Northern Ireland totaled 34,007 support from other groups. Labor union orga- (2 percent of the total number of Britons and nizers, for example, feared that their struggle Irish in the United States at the time), the to raise wages and improve working condi- quota for Chinese immigrants was only 100. tions was hurt by the availability of cheap immigrant labor. In addition, political reform- The 1924 National Origins Act governed ers believed that immigrant voters could be U.S. immigration policy until 1952. During easily manipulated to support corrupt big-city this period, immigration fell to its lowest level politicians. since the mid-1800s. The effects of the quota system, the Great Depression of the 1930s, and The campaign to restrict immigration World War II combined to reduce immigra- faced opposition from business leaders. In tion significantly. In the 1930s, the number addition, presidents from Grover Cleveland in of people emigrating from the United States 1895 to Woodrow Wilson in 1915 repeatedly actually exceeded the number of immigrants vetoed Congressional legislation to require a coming into the country. literacy test for immigrants. Not until 1917, www.choices.edu  Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University  The Choices Program 6 U.S. Immigration Policy in an Unsettled World government policy, including regulations on Part I Definitions immigration. Refugee—a person who seeks protec- The Displaced Persons Act of 1948 high- tion in another country due to conflict or lighted the new international position of the persecution in their own. United States. The act allowed for the ad- Undocumented Immigrant—a person mission of more than 400,000 refugees left who enters the country illegally. homeless by World War II and the imposition of Soviet communism in Eastern Europe. The Displaced Persons Act was followed in the How did the Cold War affect 1950s and 1960s by a number of special bills immigration policy? designed to offer refuge to “escapees” from Following this lull in immigration, the communist countries. The biggest wave of United States underwent a dramatic transfor- refugees—approximately 700,000—came from mation. World War II not only lifted the U.S. Cuba after a revolution brought communist economy out of the Great Depression, but also leader Fidel Castro to power in 1959. sparked a new era of technological innovation. At the same time, the United States ex- The United States emerged from the war as the cluded refugees from countries who were not most powerful country on earth. By the late clearly escaping communism. For example, 1940s, U.S. leaders had taken on a new range the majority of refugees from Central America of international commitments to thwart the were denied admission despite ongoing civil growing threat of the Soviet Union. The deep- wars. ening Cold War—a global struggle for political and military domination between communist bloc countries led by the Soviet Union and How was 1965 a turning capitalist, democratic countries led by the point in immigration? United States—redefined the U.S. role in the In 1952, the Immigration and Nationality world. The war touched almost every aspect of Act slightly relaxed restrictions against im- migration from Asia. Otherwise, the system created in 1924 re- mained in place until the civil rights move- ment of the 1950s and 1960s forced lawmak- ers to re-examine the national origins quo- tas. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, enacted dur- © Copyright 2007 John Darkow—All Rights Reserved. ing a period of robust economic growth, replaced the old quo- tas with a set of new requirements. The act placed priority on reuniting families and attracting highly skilled professionals. The Choices Program Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University www.choices.edu  U.S. Immigration Policy in an Unsettled World 7 The 1965 act immediately boosted immi- Despite the strict regulations, more im- gration for the nationalities that the previous migrants entered the country outside of quota system severely restricted. As late as the normal routes, either as refugees or undocu- 1950s, 68 percent of the immigrants enter- mented immigrants. Meanwhile, hundreds of ing the United States had come from Europe thousands of backlogged applicants clogged and Canada. The new law cleared the way for the conventional channels of immigration. greater immigration from Asia. Asian doc- Mexicans—who made up 24 percent of le- tors, nurses, engineers, scientists, and other gal immigrants between 1971 and 1991—for university-trained specialists were part of an example, faced a wait of more than six years to unprecedented wave of immigration due to have their applications processed. the emphasis on admitting professionals. The 1965 act also set in mo- tion a chain reaction that would affect future im- Immigrants Admitted from the Top Five Countries migration patterns. Under of Last Residence: 1821-2000 the preference system, newcomers with citizen- Ireland ship status could sponsor Germany the immigration of their 1821-1840 United Kingdom France spouses, children, and sib- Canada lings. These new arrivals, Ireland Germany in turn, could arrange for 1841-1860 United Kingdom other family members to France Canada join them. Germany In the 1970s, immi- United Kingdom 1861-1880 Ireland gration law faced new Canada France challenges as immigrants began to enter the United Austria-Hungary Germany States in the largest 1881-1900 United Kingdom Ireland numbers in half a century. Italy Officially, legal controls on Italy immigration were tighter Soviet Union 1901-1920 Canada than in the early 1900s. Austria-Hungary United Kingdom No more than twenty thousand immigrants from Germany Italy any single country could 1921-1940 Mexico United Kingdom enter the United States Canada annually. The law also Canada limited the total number of Germany immigrants to be admit- 1941-1960 Mexico United Kingdom ted annually to 290,000. Italy (The immediate relatives U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Mexico Philippines of U.S. citizens—spouses, 1961-1980 Cuba children under age eigh- United Kingdom Italy teen, and parents—were Mexico exempt from this limit.) Philippines 1981-2000 India Dominican Rep Cuba Millions 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 www.choices.edu  Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University  The Choices Program 8 U.S. Immigration Policy in an Unsettled World Who are the immigrants of At the same time, new arrivals in recent the last two decades? decades are the most highly educated group In the last two decades, the ranks of im- of immigrants in U.S. history. Many come to migrants have been swelled by refugees and work in the United States from China, India, asylum seekers, who are granted special status Philippines, and Korea. In the 1990s, 1.6 mil- within the law. Many come from countries lion college-educated immigrants joined the in the Middle East and Africa where war, work force, nearly 50 percent of them from political instability, and religious and ethnic Asia. conflict are frequent. The immigrant popula- tion also continues to grow due to the flow of What are the ways people gain legal entry undocumented immigrants. Of the approxi- to live and work in the United States? mately 1.5 million immigrants who settled in There are many ways people from other the United States in 2009, the U.S. government countries obtain legal status to reside, study, estimates that roughly 350,000 were undocu- work, or travel in the United States. The ma- mented immigrants and 170,000 were refugees jority of non-U.S. citizens living in the country or asylum seekers. have visas or green cards. Recent Immigration Laws The Refugee Act of 1980 was prompted largely by the arrival of more than four hundred thousand refugees from Southeast Asia between 1975 and 1980. The legislation sought to create greater consistency in refugee policy by allowing for both a regular flow of refugees and emer- gency admissions. In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act tackled the issue of undocumented im- migrants. To stem the flow of unauthorized immigration, the act imposed penalties on employers who knowingly hired workers without proper documentation. It also allowed undocumented immigrants who had lived in the United States since 1981, including agricultural workers, to become citizens. Under the amnesty program, about 3.2 million immigrants gained legal status. The Immigration Act of 1990 raised the limit on annual admissions from 290,000 to 675,000 immigrants. (The 1965 act had set the limit of 290,000.) The act also nearly tripled the number of spots reserved for newcomers with prized job skills and their families. Like the 1965 act, the Immigration Act of 1990 made family reunification the guiding principle of U.S. immi- gration policy. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 grew out of the economic troubles of the early 1990s. In its original form, it would have reduced overall an- nual immigration to 535,000 (including refugees and asylum seekers) and strengthened border control efforts. By the time the bill became law, the economic outlook had brightened and Con- gress had narrowed the focus of the act to curbing illegal immigration. The 1996 act streamlined procedures for deporting undocumented immigrants and rejecting asylum claims. The number of deportations doubled as a result. Critics warned that the law placed too much power in the hands of government agencies and denied legitimate refugees a fair hearing. The Real ID Act of 2005 was based on recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. Its goal is to strengthen national security by implementing stricter standards for obtaining state-issued IDs. The law requires that states implement new federal documentation requirements for issu- ing driver’s licenses and state-issued identification cards. Proponents of the act hope that new regulations to verify identity will make it more difficult for immigrants without “lawful status” to receive a fraudulent ID. Compliance with the law has been spotty. As of 2013, only nineteen states had met the new federal standards for issuing IDs. The Choices Program Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University www.choices.edu  U.S. Immigration Policy in an Unsettled World 9 Visas are granted for temporary work, century. Pressure for immigration reform education, or travel in the United States. U.S. gathered momentum and Congress passed a Citizenship and Immigration Services issues series of laws that addressed refugees, undocu- over thirty types of visas every year. While mented immigrants, and the reunification of those enrolled in school may stay for the families. length of their program on a student visa, tem- Although new laws and increased person- porary employees typically have up to three nel have streamlined the immigration process, years to live in the United States before they the system remains slow and overburdened. must return home. Much of the debate about Today, the backlog of visa applications has immigration policy centers on employment decreased, but some immigrants can still face visas and how many people should be allowed waits of five years. Each year, the U.S. Citi- to immigrate for seasonal, highly-skilled, or zenship and Immigration Service processes other forms of work. Speciality visas are also about six million immigration applications. available to refugees and victims of crime or The sheer number of applicants and the indi- human trafficking. vidual attention that must be given to each put People who plan to reside or work in the significant stress on the system. Meanwhile, United States for a longer period of time often hundreds of thousands more enter the United apply for a green card. A green card grants States outside of these legal channels and be- a person lawful permanent residence. Green come undocumented immigrants. cards are available under certain restrictions After September 11, 2001, the immigration to family members of citizens, employees with debate became more complex, with increased permanent job placements, persons who were focus given to national security. The economic granted entry as refugees, investors in U.S. recession that began in 2007 led to further companies, and individuals who have worked scrutiny of immigrants, their use of social in one of the Special Job Categories defined services, and their role in the workforce. Anti- by the federal government (for example, an immigrant sentiments have increased due to Afghan/Iraqi translator). these domestic policy concerns. Every year, Lastly, people who want to obtain full members of Congress say they will tackle “im- citizenship must go through the process of migration reform,” but differing opinions on naturalization. People who apply for natural- how to deal with the complex issues make it a ization must meet certain requirements. These difficult task for both U.S. policy makers and include holding a green card for over five the public. years, speaking English, and passing a test on U.S. history and civics. How has the immigration debate changed in recent years? The high numbers of newcomers in the 1990s and early 2000s set off a debate about immigration not seen since the late nineteenth www.choices.edu  Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University  The Choices Program