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

• 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 newrace 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 Service1906

• 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

– 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 Acts1904-7

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 – 1920sImmigrant Fears

• Different languages, customs, and/or religions threaten American unity – Italians, Greeks, Poles, Portuguese, E. & S.

Europeans, Asians

• Laborers

• Political ideologues

• Poor

41.

                           

Abolition of per-country quotas1960-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

• 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

• 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

• Embrace principles of American democracy

• Identify with U.S. history• Communicate in English

Task Force on New Americans (2008)

“The cultural sphere—traditions, religion—is

up to the individual.”

How Achieved?

• Department of Homeland Security & 19 other federal agencies coordinate

• Initiatives/partnerships– State/local governments– Community/faith-based organizations– Public libraries– Adult Education– Business/private sector initiatives– Foundations/Philanthropies– Civic Organizations/service clubs

Public SchoolsNCLB

•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”? (Does “alien” help define “us”?)

• Which “aliens” should be allowed to become “us”? How?

Alien

Alien Alien

Alien

Alien

US