Immigration

Introduction

The United States was built by immigrants, many seeking a new life in a new land. Before 1882, anyone could move to the United States. But as the population grew, the federal government decided to control immigration. Throughout most of the twentieth century, the federal government has fine-tuned its immigration policies to answer specific concerns of its citizens. In recent years, an increasing number of Americans have come to believe that the country is being overwhelmed by immigrants, and they have asked policymakers to create laws that discourage both legal and illegal immigration. Responding to this demand, in 1996 President Bill Clinton signed into law three bills that may have broad impact on immigration control and immigrants' rights in the United States. The controversy surrounding this and other policies has made immigration one of the most divisive public policy issues of the decade.

The debate over immigration offers a modern-day reading of the principles that many people think America was founded on--providing newcomers with freedom from oppression and the opportunity for prosperity. This debate centers around two major issues: the economy and the national identity of the United States. Some Americans think that immigrants are a burden on the U.S. economy, while others think that they benefit it. In addition, critics of immigration are concerned that the country is splintering along racial and cultural lines because immigrants are not being assimilated properly into U.S. society. Should the government place further restrictions on legal immigration? Should the government deny social services to illegal immigrants? Should English be the official language of the United States? These are just some of the questions being debated by lawmakers and citizens across the country.

Controlling Immigration

The United States was founded and settled by immigrants. At first, the country was open to anyone wishing to make a new start. Many came to America to escape war, poverty, famine, or religious persecution. Some came seeking fortune and others were brought against their will to work as slaves. These and other factors resulted in a large-scale influx of immigrants to the United States from around the world.

Early immigration laws aimed to preserve the racial, religious, and ethnic composition of the United States, which was then largely European. The first immigration laws were aimed at nonwhites. In 1882, for example, the Chinese Exclusion Act suspended immigration from China for sixty years. In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt negotiated an informal "gentlemen's agreement" with Japan, under which the United States promised to desegregate California schools--which had separated Japanese students from others--and in return, the Japanese government promised to stop the emigration of its citizens.

Soon, however, Americans were complaining about European immigrants as well. For example, a law passed by Congress in 1921 encouraged immigration from western European countries such as Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, and Scandinavia because natives of these lands seemed more likely to assimilate. Meanwhile, the law discouraged immigration from eastern and southern Europe. This law, along with many other immigration laws in the 1800s and 1900s, was based on quotas; only a certain number of individuals with a given background or heritage could move to the United States. In 1929, Congress passed the National Origins Act, which set an annual quota of 150,000 immigrants, only 30 percent of which could come from southern and Eastern Europe.

After World War II, Congress passed the Displaced Persons Act of 1948. This law allowed some of the people left homeless after the war to come to the United States. In 1952, President Harry Truman signed the McCarran-Walter Act, which revised the National Origins Act. People of all races would now be eligible for immigration into the United States. However, under this law, ideology became a criterion for admission. Both immigrants' and citizens' political beliefs were questioned during the "Red scare" of the 1950s, as the government sought to weed out people with even a marginally communist background. The McCarran-Walter Act was overturned in 1990 when Congress made it illegal for the U.S. government to deny people entry because of their beliefs, statements, or associations.

The Immigration Act of 1965 represented a major reform of all previous immigration laws. It abolished quotas that discriminated against nationalities, substituting an overall limit of 170,000 immigrants from the Eastern Hemisphere and 120,000 immigrants from the Western Hemisphere. The effects of the 1965 law are still being felt today. Before 1965, the United States had been a safe haven from poverty and civil war for masses of people in neighboring countries, such as Mexico. By limiting the number of immigrants from Latin America, the Immigration Act of 1965 touched off a serious illegal immigration problem.

Recent Immigration Laws

During the later part of the twentieth century, U.S. immigration policy has addressed specific modern-day problems. In some instances, the federal government has set limits on the number of immigrants--who fall into certain classifications, such as refugee--who are allowed to reside in the country. The Refugee Act of 1980 legally defined a refugee as someone who flees a country because of persecution "on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion." The act allows the president to admit refugees in a time of emergency and also places a limit on the number of refugees allowed to enter. In 1986, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which was designed to stop the flow of illegal immigrants from Latin America by imposing sanctions against employers who hire illegal aliens. In 1990, the Immigration Act increased the number of immigrants allowed to enter the United States by nearly 40 percent. Finally, in 1996, Congress passed three bills, including the 1996 Immigration Act that will affect not only immigration control, as many previous laws sought to dictate, but also immigrants' rights in the United States today.

Immigration Today

The United States admits approximately 900,000 legal immigrants every year, and annual immigration is swelled by another 300,000 people who illegally cross the borders of the United States. The Immigration and Naturalization Service estimated that about 5 million illegal aliens currently reside in the United States. Both legal and illegal immigrants contribute to dramatic changes in the racial, ethnic, and cultural