How Did the Designation Aliens Ineligible for Citizenship Affect Asian Americans - Research Paper Example

How did the designation "aliens ineligible for citizenship" negatively affect Asian Americans in the years prior to 1952? The Asian-Americans who wanted to have US citizenship prior to 1952 were negatively affected by the term “ineligible for citizenship” because of issues of racial prejudice and exclusion. America has been considered as a haven for immigrants, a land of opportunity for work, and fulfillment of dreams of good life. But this is not always true because according to studies, immigration laws made it difficult for immigrants to enter United States. Immigrants to the United States were not always welcome, as they were subjected to a selective practice. America was considered a “melting pot’ for those who wanted to be assimilated in the American culture. This criteria later on created divisiveness, like those who entered through the Ellis Island were “whites” and those who passed Angel Island were Asians. Angel Island is a detention camp set up in San Francisco, California, wherein Chinese immigrants were detained for a distressful period of two years. Walter, Yvonne estimated that about 50,000 Chinese passed this island until 1940 for interrogation before they were allowed entry to US. In the Southwest, barbed wires were constructed to control the Mexican and South American immigrants. The composition of these immigrants defined what is called an American today. This composition is an indication of the process of immigration, and naturalization that led to a diverse population of the United States today, Suh-Yun Ahn argued in his work that Americanization is an arbitrary process that chooses only those they wanted to come to their shores. Suh-Yun Ahn recalled that both groups of immigrants had diverse treatments, but their trials were different. Although both groups suffered initial hardship, one group was perpetually called foreigners and identified as ineligible for citizenship. The history of Asian immigration showed discrimination, exclusion, violence, and resistance. It is construed that racism, along with other economic and social factors had influenced the immigration laws of the United States. There are legislations that specifically affected Asian immigration and this study will focus on these legislations that prohibited them in entering US. The conscious effort to exclude Asians is due to the US’ desire to create white identity, and therefore, considered it as a basic requirement for citizenship. Today, despite diversity of population, we could observe the white supremacy in the society whether through the political arena or in the density of population. But we should not forget the aggregate measures and the constructs that led to this white supremacy. All throughout, the legislations passed by Congress defined who belong, and who did not in an effort to create white identity. The first immigration law in the United States showed an impression of being racist. During the colonization and industrial revolution period, the United States encouraged settlers to America by offering land, work and citizenship. Black slaves and workers from China, Japan, Philippines, and India were brought to the Eastern shores to make up for the shortage of workers in the plantations and to hasten the colonization and industrial revolution. The discovery of gold in California attracted many Chinese to try their luck. The Chinese were also forced to leave China because of poverty. Although their pay was lower than the whites, they were able to survive, and after being sojourns, later on considered immigration. Thus, in 1790, America had a diverse and ethnic background of people. This prompted the Congress to control immigration and had to pass a legislation that called for “A uniform standard for naturalization that allowed only white men to become citizens” (Walter, Yvonne,2007). This legislation automatically excluded the Asians and other colored immigrants from becoming citizens of America. By excluding other colored nationals, the law seems to emphasize that it wanted to establish a nation of whites, and its supremacy on them. Asian immigrants Asian Immigrations to the American shores started in the 18th century, but they soon gathered a perceived image of being weak, dark, and different. Due to this orientation, Asians were called foreigners, and were expected to be unable to assimilate American culture. Subsequent legislations further excluded Asians such as Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, and Mongolians. They were considered “ineligible for citizenship” but the law is unbalanced because it allowed citizenship to people born in Africa and African descents but not for Asians. Given reasons were the nationwide recession in the West Coast caused by labor problems and the fear of cheap labor provided by Chinese (“ The first Asian Americans”). The Chinese were paid less than the whites and often assigned to undesirable conditions. Furthermore, debated issue on this legislation was the reasoning that the “Chinese are foreigners while the African Americans are natives”(Johnson, Kevin).Thus far, what could be seen from the passage of legislations excluding Chinese and other Asians is based on the negative attitude on the Chinese immigrants showing them as competitors in the labor market. The first wave of immigrants was the Chinese who were attracted by the gold rush opportunity and when resentments towards this group grew, they were replaced by the Japanese, followed by the Filipinos and other Asians. They worked as laborers in the agriculture and industry, while some became small businessmen in their own ethnic community. At first, they were granted naturalization despite existing laws, but once the number of petitioners increased, all the courts simultaneously rejected all attempts of Asians to be naturalized. The Chinese immigrants The Chinese had an “axe to grind” because they were particularly the specified group who was excluded to enter the United States Prior to 1952. For thirty years, the influx of Chinese immigrants to US was unregulated, but things changed when discriminatory treatment started at the Pacific Rim. From then on, Walter, Yvonne, said that no other immigrant group was treated to a number of exclusion laws and denial of citizenship than the Chinese. The reason for discrimination was the racist belief of “white supremacy”, the difference of color, and the belief that they would pose danger to labor and society. The laws were unsympathetic to Chinese who received awful treatment from the state, local governments and the people in 1800s. Discrimination and racism fueled the passage of exclusion laws for the Chinese. In upholding the law, the Supreme Court rationalized national sovereignty as it claimed: “the power of exclusion of foreigners [is] as incident of sovereignty belonging to the government of the United States, as a part of its sovereign powers delegated by the Constitution”. The Court also reasoned out that in a case filed by a Fong Yue Ting v, The United States, has a “right of a nation to expel or deport foreigners… is an absolute and unqualified right to prohibit and prevent their entrance into the country.” (Johnson, Kevin. 1998) A biased tax miner’s law was imposed to Chinese who came in as miners The tax was supposed to be collected from foreign miners, but it was only collected from the Chinese despite of the presence of other miners. When they refused to pay the tax, the Chinese were attacked and some were brutally murdered; and when they complained in Court, the California laws prohibited the Chinese immigrants from testifying against Whites in court. This resulted in many unsolved cases, while murderers were free (“The first Asian Americans”) Chinese worked as gardeners, small traders, laundry workers and farmers, and in 1865 worked in the railroad project. Many died while working in this project because of avalanches and explosive accident (“The First Asian Americans”).Even in this kind of work, the Chinese laborers were not evenly treated. They were assigned to the dirtiest, hardest, and most dangerous work in the project and yet were paid only 60% of what Europeans got for the job. When they complained and put on a strike, the authorities forced them back to work by cutting their food supply and starved them until they conceded. After their work in the railroad was over and they returned to California, the whites feared them because Chinese labor was no longer needed. The Whites saw them as an economic threat, so they became a target of racial attacks and discriminating legislation. Chinese were persecuted and their communities were destroyed. Their children were not allowed in schools. Anti-Chinese riots escalated in many places. As the Chinese were not allowed to live in many places, they began to settle in isolated communities in order to survive. And so this was the beginning of China town. The settlement of a China town is a response to racial prejudices and discrimination. Today, we still see China towns in various cities. Despite government Treaties between the US and China, the exclusion of Chinese for naturalization lasted for 30 years. The Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 made it difficult for Chinese laborers to enter the United States. Chinese merchants, students, and tourists were allowed only temporary entry. The law made re-entry hard for those who were already staying in the country. Those who left the country to visit their relatives were not allowed re-entry It also affected family relationships as wives and children were not allowed to join their husbands. In 1875 Page Act, Chinese women were not allowed entry to United States, on the excuse of.“immoral women” and that they were only concern of their well being; and the fear that they will only become prostitutes. The Page Act allowed immigration officials to deny entry to Asian women, while at the same time allowing European women. The Geary Act of 1892 made it even more complicated for them because they were required to register because of the claim that Chinese names and faces were all alike. Many of the Chinese did not obey this law because it became easy for immigration officers to deport them. The law was extended for ten years, and it became permanent in 1904. Japanese arrivals The exclusion was later on extended to other Asians. In 1989, Japanese began to work at plantations in California, but later on was banned to enter US. In 1907, US President Roosevelt asked Japan to stop issuing passports to Japanese who wanted to immigrate to US. During the World War II, about 100,000 Japanese-Americans were placed into interment camps because they were considered threats. They were only allowed to return to their homes in 1944.After the war, some of the Japanese hated the United States, while others understood that it was a course of war, so they stayed and rebuild their lives in the U.S. (History on the Net, 2000). A piece legislation in California, which was particularly directed to Japanese in the twentieth century barred them from owning real properties because they were ineligible for citizenship. Asian Indians Asian Indians who came to US to fill in the gap for need of workers were excluded from the US shores in 1917 through a Congress Legislative Act that barred most of the South and Southeast Asian immigrants. The coming of the Filipinos Last to be denied were the Filipinos. The Filipinos’ migration to US is a result of the 1902 Pensionado Program that allowed Filipinos to study in US and unrestricted entry. The Philippines went under control of the US because of The Spanish-American War. But when the Philippines was granted independence by virtue of the 1934 Tydings-McDuffie Act, the Filipinos were declared ineligible for citizenship (Sue Yuen Ahn) They too, were banned to enter the United States and shared the same discrimination experience of Chinese and Japanese The ban ends The ban on naturalization ended during World War III when the US took China as an ally. The Chinese were given the right to be naturalized, Filipinos followed in 19646, until finally, in 1952, the McCarren Walter act ended the ban on immigration. However, Walter, Yvonne argued that the law is still “color-blind” as it gave an immigration quota of 170,000 visas for the Eastern Hemisphere, or 20,000 immigration quotas for every Asian country. The Quota System restricted entry of non-English speakers and who are not able to read and write which is clearly directed to Asians who are non-English speakers, the Russians, Poles, Hungarians, Hungarians and Greeks. The quota system is an indication that the country would like to preserve its ethnic balance and the desire to limit the immigration of inferior races “(Johnson, Kevin).The law stated that those Asians living in non-Asian countries are counted in the Asian quota while the Europeans are not. As this provision was questioned by many lawmakers, a further amendment was introduced in 1965. The Nationality Act of 1965 disposed of the quota system and established a “chain-system (”The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965). Under the chain system, the immigrants can now bring in their families to join them. After long years, Asian- American can now become naturalized American citizens Conclusion From the beginning, the justification for exclusion is the difficulty of assimilation. In the Chinese case, at first, their point of interest in coming to US is only to earn and later on return to their homeland. Based on this premise, the Supreme Court ruled that “the Chinese remained strangers in the land, residing apart by themselves, and adhering to the customs and usages of their own county”, and”without interest in our country or its institutions”(1889:595-6 cited in Sue Yu Ahn). The exclusion was justified by the Court on the grounds that self-segregation posed as a threat to the unity of the nation. The Chinatown communities were seen by the Court as a measure of exclusivity of the Chinese immigrants. The laws have racists intention because even if US claims equality, they treated Asians differently from the Europeans who ended up being assimilated in the American society, The economic justification is not readily acceptable reason because while it restricted Asians, European immigration was encouraged despite the so-called economic depressions. It is observed that the Asians. upon arrival to the United states were not given a choice to assimilate in the society. Their failure to assimilate is not their own option but rather depended on the social conditions that prevailed because they were always called as “foreign”. The justification for exclusion is based on the racial identity that was difficult to attain. So the history of legislations presents an overview that Asians faced a very difficult situation than their European counterparts. The impact of the exclusion to Asians has far more reaching effect because it means loss of their source of livelihood, the survival of their communities, and the loss of respect on the family as a basic social structure. Further effects, based on several research studies, showed its effect on children. Children of migrant parents appeared to be disturbed, showed to have more school problems and more likely to drop out of school (Grinding, Thomas and Sara Poggio, 2010) It is believed that US finally approved Chinese naturalization because of necessity and expediency of the war. US considered China as an ally, and it would seem embarrassing if the country prohibits immigration of its ally. The point here is that even if the Asian immigrants faced hostile climate, particularly, the Chinese, they fought for their dignity, self-respect, and their rights. These immigrants showed that they can be part of the society and can contribute to its economic growth contrary to a prior belief. It is shown that by reversing the immigration laws, and by having a just, and equal law the immigrants could be able to assimilate in the society and would erase traces of marginalization References Sue-Yun Ahn. Citizenship Colored. Asian American Immigration and Legal Construction of White National Identity. Accessed 30 March 2012 Read More