Chapter 15.2 Diversity and Equal
Protection for Immigrants
• Fact:
– Your ancestors
immigrated to the U.S.
from another country.
– Question:
• How did they become an
American citizen?
Unrestricted Immigration
• 1776-1870’s
– No restrictions as to who
could come to our country.
• Why?
– We needed a larger
population of workers!
• Thus, the birth of the
American dream…
– Freedom
– A decent job
– Land!
End of the 1800’s
• By 1890
– Immigrants made up
over 15% of our
population!
• Most became citizens of
the United States
through naturalization
– Legal process by which
immigrants become
citizens.
Process of Naturalization
1.
Move to the United States and live here for 5 years.
2.
After 5 years, file form for naturalization.
3.
Government examines the forms to make sure immigrant is:
–
–
–
4.
18 yrs old or older
A good citizen who believes in the Constitution.
Must pass a civil service test in English.
Final Hearing
–
The immigrant swears an oath of allegiance to the U.S. Constitution.
Can you lose your citizenship?
• YES!
– Two ways:
• Denaturalization
– Loss of citizenship due to giving false information on
citizenship application.
» Lying about age
» Lying about prior legal offenses
• Expatriation
– Person voluntarily gives up citizenship to become a citizen of
another country.
Beginning of Immigration Restrictions
• 1882
– Congress imposed a taxes on new immigrants
• Also turned away
– Criminals
– Homeless people
– People with mental or physical disabilities
• Plus, immigration from China is banned!!!
– Why?
» Chinese workers were taking all of the jobs in California!
Immigration Restrictions..cont.
• 1900
– Congress passes law to restrict number of Japanese
immigrants to America.
• Why?
– They were taking jobs in California now that Chinese couldn’t come.
• 1920’s
– After WWI, Europe was destroyed
• Congress passes laws to restrict number of immigrants that could
come from anywhere but Europe!
– Why?
» We were okay with Europeans coming to America to work, so let
them come!
– Who couldn’t come?
» Asians, Africans, and Mexicans!
Immigration after 1940’s
• WWII is over, Europe is destroyed….again.
– America eases their immigration restrictions to
help people who have no homes.
• This includes:
– Most of Europe
– Japanese (we dropped 2 atomic bombs on them, remember?)
– From 1945 to 1989
• 290,000 immigrants allowed in America per year.
– 120,000 from Western Hemisphere (Asia and India)
– 170,000 from Eastern Hemisphere (Europe and Africa)
Latin American Immigration
• Began during 1970’s
– Most of Latin America
was having Civil Wars
• Huge issues with drugs
• Governments were
corrupt
– Over 50% of all
immigrants into America
from 1970 to today are
from Latin America.
• Mexico being the biggest
contributor.
Immigration Since 1990
• Immigration Act of 1990
– Set new quota for immigration at 675,000 per
year.
• That means over 337,500 are from Mexico.
– Those are the ones that we know for sure!
– What about the ones who are sneaking into the country?
» Estimated that 4,000,000 Mexicans are living in America
illegally today.
Racial/Ethnic Population in America,
2000
So, what do we do?
• Deportation
– Forcibly return any illegal
aliens to their original
countries.
• One catch….
– Congress can offer amnesty
• A pardon that allows illegal
immigrants to stay in the
United States
– They must apply for
citizenship within 3 years.
– Why would we do this?
A Nation of Diversity
• Immigration has led to
America becoming a ‘melting
pot’
– Benefits of diversity
• New cultures
• New ideas
• New music and traditions
– Challenges of Diversity
• Prejudice
– Opinions about others not
based on fact, but feelings
• Discrimination
– Practice of treating people
differently due to prejudice.