Immigration Perspectives
• The American Dream (Letters
From an American Farmer)
(1782)
• Immigration/Naturalization
Policy (1790-present)
– Race
– Country
– Hemisphere
• Americanization Movement for
21st Century (2008)
The American Dream: (Letters
from an American Farmer)
• Hector St. John de Crevecoeur (1735-1813)
• France to Canada to New York
• First to describe “American Dream”
Crevecoeur’s America
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Expansive
Geographically variable
Abundant resources
Land cheap
Laws “indulgent”
“Here individuals of all nations [England,
Scotland, Ireland, France, Sweden,
Netherlands, Germany] are melted into a new
race of men”
Americans
Ubi panis ibi patria
(Where there is bread,
there is my country)
– Equal; no aristocratic
class
– Self-interested,
industrious
– Religiously
diverse/tolerant
– Friendly, disciplined,
grateful
Immigration/Naturalization Policy
• 1790: Congress: Free white persons of
good character welcome
• Immigration laws primarily state-based
Excluded
• Indentured servants
• African Americans
– Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857): No African
American can become U.S. citizen
• Native American Indians “not taxed”
– Those on reservations or in unsettled parts of
country
– Not included in census
Citizenship Defined
• 1868: 14th Amendment
– Citizenship based on “jus soli”
– Authorizes naturalization
Policy premise: If immigrate, goal is naturalization
U.S.Naturalization Service
1906
• Need uniform
naturalization
procedures
• Racial eligibility
requirements create
persistent interpretive
problems
• “List of Races or
Peoples” as practical
guide for immigration
officials
Relationship between race and nationality?
• Asians
– 1882: Chinese Exclusion Act
– 1922: Ozawa v. U.S.: Japanese born in Japan
cannot be naturalized. “White person" means
Caucasian
• Indians
– 1923: U.S. v. Thind: Do not qualify for citizenship
• Are “Caucasions” according to anthropologists BUT
• “the average man knows perfectly well that there are
unmistakable and profound differences.”
“Average Man” definition of
race
• Webster’s Dictionary
• 5 races
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Caucasian (white): Europe and western Asia
Mongolian (yellow): China, Japan, and region
Negro (black): Africa
American (red): natives of North and South American
Malay (brown): islands of Indian Archipelago region
Immigration Acts
1904-7
Limit immigrants from Latin America
Exclude immigrants from Philippines, Guam,
Samoa and Hawaiian Islands
Exclude “idiots, imbeciles, feeble-minded persons,
epileptics, insane persons"
Shift from race to national origins
• 1921-52: Congress
adopts per-country
quotas
– @ 70% given to UK,
Ireland and Germany
• 1922: Indian (Native
American) Citizenship Act
WWI – 1920s
Immigrant Fears
• Different languages, customs, and/or religions
threaten American unity
– Italians, Greeks, Poles, Portuguese, E. & S.
Europeans, Asians
• Laborers
4
1
.
• Political ideologues
• Poor
Abolition of per-country quotas
1960-present
• Hemispheric limits
replace country limits
• Factors of race,
birthplace, gender
eliminated
• Focus shifts to
undocumented aliens and
terrorism
• 2003: Department of
Homeland Security takes
over immigration &
enforcement
“America has never been united by blood
or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals
that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift
us above our interests and teach us what
it means to be citizens. Every child must
be taught these principles. Every citizen
must uphold them. And every immigrant,
by embracing these ideals, makes our
country more, not less, American.
President George W. Bush
Inaugural Address, January 20, 2001
Contemporary Snapshot
Legal Permanent Resident Flow
by Country of Birth: 2007
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Mexico 148,640
China 76,655
Philippines 72,596
India 65,353
Colombia 33,187
Haiti 30,405
Cuba 22,405
Vietnam 29,104
Dominican Republic 28,691
Korea 28,024
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•
2042: America a nation of
minorities; no dominant racial/
ethnic group
2050: Whites @ 47 percent
Hispanics @ 29 percent;
Blacks @ 13 percent
Asians @ 9 percent.
“American identity is political”
www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/M-708.pdf
“The cultural sphere—
traditions, religion—is up
to the individual.”
• Embrace principles of
American democracy
• Identify with U.S. history
• Communicate in English
Task Force on New Americans (2008)
How Achieved?
• Department of Homeland Security & 19 other
federal agencies coordinate
• Initiatives/partnerships
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State/local governments
Community/faith-based organizations
Public libraries
Adult Education
Business/private sector initiatives
Foundations/Philanthropies
Civic Organizations/service clubs
Public Schools
NCLB
• NCLB changed 1968 Bilingual Education
Act to English Language Acquisition,
Language Enhancement, and Academic
Achievement Act
– Decreased federal funds for bilingual
education
– Emphasizes English-language acquisition
Common Core
• Establishes English Language Arts
standards
– Oregon adopts in 2010
– BUT: 2008: Initiative on English immersion
defeated 56-43% (Measure 58)
Discussion
• Who are “us”?
• Who are “aliens”?
Alien
Alien
Alien
(Does “alien” help define “us”?)
• Which “aliens” should
be allowed to become
“us”? How?
US
Alien
Alien