I | INTRODUCTION |
Immigration, the movement of people into another
nation with the intention of residing there permanently. The contrasting term
emigration refers to the movement of people permanently leaving a
nation.
Immigration is a worldwide phenomenon. From the
17th century to the 19th century, millions of Europeans migrated to North and
South America, eastern and southern Africa, Australia, and Asia. Many of these
immigrants resettled in colonies established by their home countries (see
Colonies and Colonialism). Most modern immigrants, like the colonists of the
past, are motivated to relocate far from their original homes by the desire to
improve their economic situation. Such people, known as economic immigrants,
resettle in other countries in search of jobs, farmland, or business
opportunities. Today, economic migrations generally bring people from less
developed, poorer countries to more developed and more prosperous
countries.
Although economic immigration accounts for most
of the movements of people between countries, a substantial number of immigrants
around the world are refugees. Some refugees relocate to avoid religious
or political persecution, suffered on account of their beliefs. Wars, political
turmoil, and natural disasters drive others away from their homeland. For
example, at the end of World War I in 1918, ten million displaced people
wandered throughout Europe. Most of these refugees came from the German,
Austro-Hungarian, and Russian empires, which had broken up into smaller nations
at the end of the war. After World War II ended in 1945, another several million
refugees immigrated to countries in Europe, Asia, and North and South America.
Today, experts calculate that there are more than 15 million refugees in search
of new homes throughout the world. Faster international communication, improved
transportation, and the willingness of some nations to grant political asylum to
those in distress have allowed people from every continent to seek greater
opportunities in more prosperous and more democratic areas.
The remainder of this article focuses on
immigration to the United States. Four centuries of immigration have profoundly
affected the culture and society of the United States. Except for Native
Americans, all Americans are either recent immigrants or the descendants of
immigrants who have settled in North America over the last five centuries.
II | A NATION OF IMMIGRANTS |
Although the United States has been shaped by
successive waves of immigrants, Americans have often viewed immigration as a
problem. Established Americans often look down on new immigrants. The cultural
habits of immigrants are frequently targets of criticism, especially when the
new arrivals come from a different country than those in the established
community. Despite such tensions, economic needs have always forced Americans to
seek immigrants as laborers and settlers, and economic opportunities have
beckoned foreigners. The vast majority of immigrants to the United States have
come in search of jobs and the chance to create a better life for themselves and
their families. In all of American history, less than 10 percent of immigrants
have come for political or religious reasons.
Economic immigrants from Europe, Asia, and
Latin America have come to the United States voluntarily. Others, most notably
African Americans, were involuntarily transported to North America to do forced
labor or to be sold as slaves. Regardless of the reasons they come to the United
States, new immigrants typically work in menial, labor-intensive, low-paying,
and dangerous jobs—occupations that most other Americans shun. They are often
treated with disdain until they assimilate—that is, adopt the mainstream
American culture established by earlier immigrants.
Although immigrants are expected to absorb the
beliefs and standards of the dominant society, most immigrant groups try to
maintain their own cultural heritage, language, and religious practices. Some
groups, such as the Huguenots (French Protestants) who immigrated during the
colonial period, assimilated within one or two generations. Others, such as the
German and Irish immigrants of the 19th century, still maintain some aspects of
their traditional cultures.
Traditionally the United States has been
described as a melting pot, a place where the previous identities of each
immigrant group are melted down to create an integrated, uniform society. Since
the 1960s, many Americans have rejected the melting pot metaphor in favor of the
image of the mosaic, a picture created by assembling many small stones or
tiles. In a mosaic, each piece retains its own distinctive identity, while
contributing to a larger design. Advocates of the mosaic metaphor assert that it
better represents the diverse multicultural society of the United States. Today,
many Americans value their immigrant heritage as an important part of their
identity. More recent immigrant groups from Asia, such as Vietnamese Americans
and Korean Americans, have established communities alongside those populated by
the descendants of European immigrants, such as French Americans, German
Americans, Irish Americans, and Italian Americans.
III | DURING THE COLONIAL PERIOD |
A | The English |
The first immigrants to colonial America
came almost exclusively from western Europe. During the first decades of the
17th century, settlers from England colonized Virginia and New England. They
established the first permanent English settlement in North America at
Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. The English settled in Virginia in the low-lying
fertile areas around Chesapeake Bay and along the rivers of the coastal plain to
the south. They soon developed an economy dependent on the cultivation of
tobacco for export to Europe. Although highly profitable, tobacco cultivation
required intensive labor. Many people convicted of petty crimes in England were
often sent to the American colonies as indentured servants, laborers who
were forced to work for a period of four to seven years before regaining their
freedom.
The first Africans were brought to
Virginia to work for tobacco planters in 1619. It is unclear whether these first
Africans were brought as indentured servants or as slaves, as most later
Africans brought to the colonies were. Although the number of African American
slaves grew slowly at first, by the 1680s they were perceived as essential to
the economy of Virginia. During the 17th and 18th centuries, African American
slaves lived in all of England’s North American colonies. Before Britain
prohibited its subjects from participating in the slave trade, between 600,000
and 650,000 Africans had been forcibly transported to North America.
Immigration to New England began in 1620
when English religious dissenters known as the Pilgrims established Plymouth
Colony in present-day Massachusetts. A larger settlement of English Puritans was
founded on the shores of Massachusetts Bay in 1629 (see Puritanism).
Between 1629 and 1640, approximately 21,000 English colonists crossed the
Atlantic Ocean to settle in New England. The values of these Puritan settlers
strongly influenced the culture of the American colonies and later of the United
States. Although some New Englanders owned slaves in the 17th and 18th
centuries, slavery never played a major role in the New England economy. The
Puritans spoke English, practiced a Protestant faith, and valued hard work and
commercial success. The Puritans also believed in the importance of education.
Over time, many people came to equate these characteristics with Americans in
general.
B | The Dutch and Swedes |
In the early 17th century settlers from
other Western European countries also established themselves on the Atlantic
Coast of North America. The Dutch established the colony of New Netherland in
the region of present-day New York in 1614 and began settlement of the area in
1624. There they founded the city of New Amsterdam, now New York City, in 1626.
Sweden established a colony known as New Sweden in the area of present-day
Delaware in 1638. The Dutch absorbed New Sweden in 1655, only to lose all of
their North American colonies to the British in 1664. These early colonies were
often quite cosmopolitan, drawing settlers from many nations. When the English
seized New Amsterdam, the city was home to perhaps 1500 residents, including
Walloons, Huguenots, Swedes, Dutchmen, and African Americans.
C | The French and Spanish |
The French and Spanish also established
colonies in North America. The Spanish established the oldest permanent European
settlement in Saint Augustine, Florida, in 1565. Spanish settlers from Mexico
founded the colony of New Mexico in what is now the southwestern United States
in 1598. France established Acadia in 1604 and Québec in 1608, both in
present-day Canada. In 1718 the French founded New Orleans as the capital of
their vast and sparsely settled Louisiana colony, which encompassed most of
central North America.
The British placed no restrictions on
immigrants wishing to enter their colonies. English men and women constituted
the majority of settlers, but small groups from almost every nation in Western
Europe settled in one or more of the English colonies. In 1688 there were
200,000 people in all of England’s North American colonies. Most of these
colonists either came from Great Britain, were descended from individuals who
did, or had been brought to North America by slave traders. In the following
century, the colonial population doubled approximately every 25 years. African
slaves, Scots-Irish, and Germans constituted the majority of the people arriving
in the British colonies during this period. Between 1700 and 1770, 260,000
Africans, 50,000 white convicts, and 210,000 voluntary immigrants from Europe
entered the British colonies. Scots-Irish immigrants, descended from Scots who
settled in northern Ireland in the early 17th century, numbered about 80,000.
Approximately 70,000 immigrants from the various German states of Europe
migrated to the colonies during the same period.
D | Causes of Colonial Immigration |
The reasons each of these groups
immigrated to the British colonies in North America varied. Among the European
groups were some individuals who immigrated simply for adventure or for unique
personal reasons. But most immigrants came to escape harsh conditions in their
homeland or, in the case of Africans, because they were captured and sold into
slavery. Immigrants from continental Europe often fled wars, pestilence, and
famine in their homelands. In the 1650s and 1660s, the English passed a series
of laws, known as the Navigation Acts, to regulate the economy of the British
Empire. These new laws had an adverse effect on Northern Ireland and triggered
an exodus of Scots-Irish to the North American colonies in the late 17th and
early 18th centuries.
IV | FROM 1775 TO 1840 |
By the time of the American Revolution
(1775-1783), the colonial population had reached approximately 2.5 million
people. Black slaves constituted roughly 22 percent of the total—more than
500,000 people. About 250,000 were Scots-Irish. Approximately 200,000 were
Germans. Protestants formed the overwhelming majority of white people, although
approximately 25,000 Roman Catholics and about 1000 Jews also lived in the
colonies.
Just before and after the American
Revolution, about 15,000 Lowland Scots crossed the Atlantic and settled in North
America. In the 1790s, several thousand French men and women who had opposed the
French Revolution (1789-1799) made their way to the United States. By the 1830s,
another 150,000 immigrants, mostly from Northern Ireland and England, had found
their way to the United States.
Alarmed by the presence of so many
immigrants, Americans began to limit their numbers as early as the 1790s. In
1790 Congress passed an act requiring a two-year residence period before
immigrants could qualify for U.S. citizenship. In 1795 the residence period was
raised to five years. In 1798, during the administration of President John
Adams, Congress passed four laws collectively called the Alien and Sedition
Acts. One of these laws, the Naturalization Act, increased the period immigrants
had to wait before becoming U.S. citizens to 14 years. Another, known as the
Alien Act, authorized the president to expel any foreigners residing in the
United States thought to be threatening to American interests. The
Naturalization Act was repealed in 1802, and the Alien Act expired in 1800.
However, the passage of these laws marked the first attempts to regulate
immigration into the United States.
V | FROM 1840 TO 1900 |
The greatest influx of immigrants to the
United States occurred between the 1840s and the 1920s. During this era,
approximately 37 million immigrants arrived in the United States. Census figures
indicate that about 6 million Germans, 4.5 million Irish, 4.75 million Italians,
4.2 million people from England, Scotland and Wales, approximately the same
number from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, 2.3 million Scandinavians, and 3.3
million people from Russia and the Baltic states entered the United States.
Between the 1840s and the 1870s, Germans and Irish groups predominated. Between
1854 and 1892 more Germans arrived in any given year than any other ethnic
group, except for three years when the Irish predominated. Beginning in 1896
people from southern and eastern Europe, such as Italians, Jews, and Slavic
peoples from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, were the most numerous groups.
A | Causes of 19th Century Immigration |
Industrialization in Europe caused the
relocation of most of these immigrants. The transformation from small,
agriculture-based societies to manufacturing economies was so rapid and sweeping
that it became known as the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution
began in England in the late 18th century and gradually spread across Europe.
During the mid-19th century, the Industrial Revolution swept across France,
Belgium, and the German states. In each of these areas the economic and social
changes accompanying rapid industrialization led to a huge exodus of people.
Although Ireland did not industrialize until the end of the 19th century, a
severe famine in the 1830s and 1840s and the replacement of small farms by
larger estates produced similar mass migrations of displaced people. By the late
1870s, industrialization had pushed into Scandinavia, sending waves of Danish,
Norwegian, and Swedish immigrants to the United States. Similarly,
industrialization in southern and Eastern Europe during the 1880s and 1890s
encouraged the mass migrations of Italians, Slavs, and Jews.
Although economic changes were the
predominant factors prompting these movements, others left their homelands
because of political upheavals, religious persecution, or in search of
adventure. For example, about 4000 Germans left their homes as a result of the
political upheavals that swept through central Europe in 1848.
B | Settlement Patterns |
About 70 percent of all European immigrants
initially landed in New York City. From New York City, most immigrants fanned
out to other areas. Substantial numbers of European immigrants also arrived in
Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Orleans. During the 1850s almost all
Chinese immigrants entered the United States via San Francisco. Wherever
immigrants landed, there were railroads to take them to other parts of the
country, especially after 1850. Many immigrants knew where they wanted to go,
either because they had relatives or friends in a particular region or because
they sought particular kinds of work. Those interested working in heavy industry
often migrated to inland cities, such as Buffalo, New York; Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania; Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Chicago, Illinois; and
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
German immigrants settled throughout the
United States. Many Germans moved directly to Texas and the Midwest. Many also
settled in New York and Pennsylvania. German Americans generally worked in
skilled occupations and in agriculture. Scandinavian immigrants usually took up
farming in the Upper Midwest. Immigrants from southern Italy engaged in
unskilled labor in every part of the United States. Jewish Americans and Italian
Americans typically worked in light manufacturing or retail businesses. Many
Italian Americans could also be found in the construction industry. Most Jewish
Americans preferred to settle in major cities, such as New York, Chicago, and
Boston. Thousands of Jewish men, however, became peddlers and ventured into
smaller communities across the United States. Members of Slavic groups, such as
Polish Americans and Slovak Americans, often found jobs in heavy industries,
such as metal processing and machine manufacturing.
Europeans constituted more than 80 percent
of all immigrants throughout the 19th century. Most European immigrants settled
in the northeastern and midwestern regions of the United States. Established
immigrants, or their children, generally held supervisory posts in industry and
white-collar positions in corporations. Women immigrants from many backgrounds
worked in laundries, light manufacturing, and retail businesses. Irish American
women, in particular, were commonly employed as domestic servants. Most
19th-century immigrants worked in low prestige occupations, earned wages that
were insufficient to provide decent standards of living, and lived in shabbily
built and overcrowded dwellings without sufficient heat, light, air, or
plumbing. One-room cabins abounded in agricultural and mining areas. It often
took two to three generations for the children and grandchildren of immigrants
to move up the socioeconomic ladder and earn sufficient incomes to provide a
comfortable standard of living.
In the West, immigrants were counted in the
thousands rather than hundreds of thousands during the late 19th century.
Nonetheless, members of almost every ethnic group could be found somewhere in
the region. Generally, Chinese Americans worked building the railroads, in light
manufacturing, or as domestic and retail workers in mining camps and other
places. Mining camps in the Rocky Mountains provided work for European
immigrants and Mexican Americans.
C | Discrimination |
An overwhelming majority of immigrants,
regardless of ethnicity, were subjected to discrimination. Many American
Protestants opposed the immigration of members of the Roman Catholic Church.
Riots between Irish-Catholic immigrants and American Protestants were common in
the 1830s. Although Irish Americans were victims of discrimination, they later
displayed animosity towards members of newer immigrant groups. On the West
Coast, Asian Americans and Mexican Americans were the prime victims of
prejudice. During the 1840s and 1850s, nativist movements—groups opposed
to the presence of foreigners and immigrants in the United States—grew rapidly.
Among the most powerful of these groups were the Know-Nothings, a nativist
political party known for secrecy and anti-Catholic sentiments.
In the late 19th century American nativists
grew increasingly hostile toward Asian immigrants. Asian workers, especially the
Chinese, often came to the United States under contract to American employers,
who financed their transportation. In 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion
Act, suspending further entry of most Chinese immigrants into the United States.
The Alien Contract Labor Laws of 1885, 1887, 1888, and 1891 prohibited
immigrants from entering the country to work under contracts made before their
arrival. Professional actors, artists, singers, lecturers, educators, ministers,
personal domestic servants, and some categories of skilled laborers were
exempted from these restrictions.
Additional immigration laws were passed in
1875, 1882, and 1892. One law provided for the physical examination of arriving
immigrants. Another mandated the exclusion of convicts, polygamists,
prostitutes, persons suffering from “loathsome or contagious diseases,” and
persons likely to become dependent on public financial assistance. In 1891
Congress created the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to administer
federal laws relating to the admission, exclusion, and deportation of aliens and
to the naturalization of aliens lawfully residing in the United States. In 1892
the INS opened an immigrant screening station at Ellis Island in New York
Harbor. Approximately 12 million immigrants entered the United States through
the Ellis Island station, which remained open until 1954.
VI | FROM 1900 TO 1924 |
Almost 9 million immigrants entered the
United States in the first decade of the 20th century, close to 6 million in the
1910s, and about 4 million in the 1920s. In the early 20th century, Japanese
Americans constituted the largest group of Asian immigrants. They primarily
engaged in agricultural pursuits in California, Oregon, and Washington. In 1907
the United States and Japan signed a so-called Gentlemen’s Agreement, in which
the Japanese government promised to deny passports to Japanese laborers
intending to enter the United States. In return, the U.S. government refrained
from enacting laws officially excluding Japanese immigrants.
The Immigration Act of 1917 expanded the
classes of foreigners excluded from the United States. It imposed a literacy
test and designated an Asiatic Barred Zone, a geographic region
encompassing much of eastern Asia and the Pacific islands from which immigrants
would not be admitted to the United States. Aliens unable to meet minimum
mental, moral, physical, and economic standards were excluded, as were
anarchists and other so-called subversives (see Anarchism). Most of the
basic provisions of the Immigration Act of 1917 were retained in subsequent
revisions of the immigration law.
After World War I (1914-1918) a marked
increase in racism and isolationism in the United States led to demands for
further restrictions on immigration. In 1921 Congress established a quota system
for immigrants. The number of immigrants of any nationality admitted to the
United States each year could not exceed 3 percent of the number of foreign-born
residents of that nationality living in the United States in 1910. The law
applied to all immigrants from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, New
Zealand, and certain islands in the Atlantic and Pacific.
VII | FROM 1924 TO 1964 |
The Immigration Act of 1924, also known as
the National Origins Act, further reduced quotas for immigrants deemed to be
less desirable. Immigrants from northern and western Europe were considered
highly adaptable and more likely to “fit in” with Americans than immigrants from
southern and eastern Europe. As a result, immigrants from Great Britain,
Germany, and Ireland were assigned generous quotas. Quotas for countries such as
Russia, the source of most Jewish immigrants, and Italy were cut back.
Practically all Asians were barred from entering the United States. In 1941
Congress passed an act that refused visas to foreigners whose presence in the
United States might endanger public safety. In a gesture of goodwill toward
China, an ally of the United States during World War II, Congress passed a bill
in 1943 allowing 105 Chinese immigrants to enter the United States
annually.
These laws, coupled with the Great
Depression of the 1930s and World War II, discouraged immigrants from coming to
the United States. After World War II, however, Congress recognized two new
categories of immigrants, war brides and refugees. A 1945 federal law, the War
Brides Act, authorized the admission of the wives and children of citizens
serving in the U.S. armed forces during World War II, without regard to quotas
or other standards. Congress classified people escaping from their homelands for
political reasons as refugees. Included in the initial group of refugees were
people who had survived Nazi persecution in Europe during World War II and
people fleeing Communism in Eastern Europe after the war. The Displaced Persons
Acts of 1948 and 1950 and the Refugee Relief Act of 1953 authorized the
admission of over 500,000 people.
Most of the existing U.S. laws related to
immigration were incorporated into the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.
Two extremely important changes were made. The Asiatic Barred Zone, which had
banned most Asian immigrants since 1917, was abolished. Just as important,
people from all nations of the world were given the opportunity to enter the
United States. Each nation received a minimum quota of 100 persons
annually.
Until the 1960s, most immigrants to the
United States came from Europe. Legal restrictions blocked substantial
emigration from many other regions. Mexicans, who were allotted a very small
quota, came to the United States in growing numbers during the 1950s and early
1960s. Overall, 500,000 immigrants arrived in the United States in the 1930s, 1
million in the 1940s, and 2.5 million in the 1950s.
VIII | FROM 1965 TO THE PRESENT |
A | The New Immigration |
A major change in U.S. immigration
policy occurred with the passage of amendments to the Immigration and
Nationality Act in 1965. National-origin quotas were abolished, and annual
limits of 170,000 Eastern Hemisphere immigrants and 120,000 Western Hemisphere
immigrants were established. For Eastern Hemisphere immigrants, preferences were
given to close relatives of American citizens, refugees, and individuals who
possessed job skills in short supply in the United States. There was no
preference system for Western Hemisphere immigrants, with visas available on a
first-come, first-serve basis. The act exempted spouses, children, and parents
of U.S. citizens from such numerical limits, as well as certain categories of
special immigrants.
The 1965 act marked the beginning of a
large and sustained wave of immigration even greater that of the early 20th
century. Almost 4.5 million immigrants were admitted to the United States as
legal permanent residents during the 1970s, a figure that grew to more than 7
million in the 1980s. Over 9 million legal immigrants were admitted in the
1990s, more than in any previous decade. These numbers include a large
proportion of individuals who were already living in the United States as
illegal aliens, legal refugees, or asylees (those granted political asylum).
Although Congress had anticipated a new wave of European immigrants as a result
of its reforms, about 80 percent of these immigrants came from Latin America,
the Caribbean, or Asia. As in the past, economic opportunities in the United
States provided the main attraction for immigrants from abroad.
Since the 1970s the leading countries of
origin for legal immigrants have been Mexico (accounting for more than 20
percent of all immigrants), the Philippines (7 percent), China (4 percent),
India (4 percent), South Korea (4 percent), Vietnam (4 percent), and the
Dominican Republic (4 percent). Most immigrants have settled in California, New
York, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, or Illinois. Smaller numbers live in regions
throughout the United States. As in the past, most immigrants work in light
industry, services, or agriculture. Many recent immigrants are well-educated
professionals.
In 1978 an amendment to the Immigration
and Nationality Act abolished separate quotas for each hemisphere and instituted
an annual quota of 290,000 immigrants worldwide, with a maximum of 20,000 for
any one country. The Refugee Act of 1980 reduced the quota for all immigrants to
270,000 persons, excluding refugees. The Refugee Act estimated a “normal flow”
of refugees and asylees entering the United States at about 50,000 people
annually. However, the United States has admitted an average of 85,000 refugees
and 7,000 asylees annually since 1980. Under the act, the maximum number of
refugees allowed is set annually by the president of the United States, although
it may be adjusted during the year in response to humanitarian crises.
In the 1980s concern about the surge of
undocumented aliens—foreigners illegally entering the United States without
proper documents—led Congress to pass legislation aimed at curtailing illegal
immigration. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 mandated penalties
for employers who hire illegal aliens. The act contained an amnesty provision
that allowed most undocumented aliens who had lived in the United States
continuously since January 1, 1982, to apply for legal status. It also granted
amnesty to some illegal aliens working in agriculture.
B | Immigration Act of 1990 |
In 1990 Congress made comprehensive
changes to U.S. immigration law by passing the Immigration Act of 1990. The act
established an annual ceiling of 700,000 immigrants for each of the following
three years, and a ceiling of 675,000 per year thereafter. Refugees were not
covered by the act. Amnesty was extended to the undocumented family members of
those who had taken advantage of the amnesty provision of the 1986 immigration
act and had taken steps to become U.S. citizens. While family members of U.S.
citizens remained the largest category of immigrants, the act established a
separate annual quota of 140,000 for immigrants with job skills needed in the
United States. Responding to pressure from various lobby groups, the 1990 act
granted annual quotas of 40,000 to 55,000 to countries that had sent few
immigrants in recent years. Individuals who invested over $1 million in business
ventures in the United States, creating jobs for U.S. citizens, also received
preferential treatment. In addition, special consideration was granted to
political refugees escaping from countries with repressive governments.
The 1990 law addressed another category
of immigrant: illegal aliens who would suffer hardship if deported because of
ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary
conditions in their homeland. The law gave the INS the power to grant temporary
protected status (TPS) to illegal aliens from countries designated by the U.S.
attorney general. Those granted the status could live and work in the United
States until conditions improved in their homeland. Upon expiration of this
status, immigrants were again subject to deportation. Countries designated under
the TPS program have included Guatemala, El Salvador, Angola, Burundi, Liberia,
Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Sudan.
C | Reforms of 1996 and 1997 |
In 1996 Congress passed the Illegal
Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA). The act made it
easier to deport aliens attempting to enter the United States without proper
documents. It also established an income test for those attempting to bring
family members from abroad to the United States. Under the provisions of the
act, a person sponsoring a family member is required to earn at least 125
percent of the poverty threshold, the annual income required to maintain an
adequate standard of living according to the U.S. Census Bureau (see
Poverty). Illegal immigrants who remain in the United States for more than
six months are barred from re-entering the country for three years. Illegal
immigrants who remain in the United States for a year or more are barred for ten
years.
The IIRIRA also expanded the number of
crimes for which legal immigrants can be deported, and severely restricted the
right of immigrants to appeal decisions made by the Immigration and
Naturalization Service to the federal courts. A related law passed in 1996, the
Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), eliminated all INS
discretion in deportation hearings for individuals who have criminal
convictions. In 1999 the Supreme Court of the United States reviewed two
separate challenges to the constitutionality of these provisions of the IIRIRA
and AEDPA. In the case of Reno v. Goncalves, the Court ruled that
these laws did not prohibit the federal courts from reviewing INS decisions in
deportation proceedings that had begun prior to 1996. The INS had argued that
the laws applied broadly to immigrants with criminal convictions, regardless of
when deportation hearings began or when the criminal offense occurred.
In 1997 Congress passed legislation in
response to criticism that U.S. immigration laws unfairly excluded Central
American refugees, who faced civil wars from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.
Although the U.S. government permitted the immigration of some Cuban and Haitian
nationals as refugees, almost all Central Americans saw their refugee claims
rejected. The 1997 law, called the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American
Relief Act (NACARA), granted amnesty to Nicaraguans who had entered the United
States illegally before December 1995. It also allowed certain Salvadorans and
Guatemalans already in the country to suspend their deportation proceedings and
apply for U.S. residency. However, hundreds of thousands of Central Americans
already in the United States were not covered by the law and continued to seek
U.S. residency by applying for asylum. The ad hoc nature of immigration policy
left millions of other immigrants without proper papers or the hope of gaining
asylum. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that 8.7 million undocumented aliens
lived in the United States in 2000.
D | Recent Developments |
In 2000 Congress passed and President
Bill Clinton signed the Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act, which granted
the right to residency for an estimated 400,000 undocumented aliens. The measure
restored amnesty eligibility to certain illegal immigrants who had failed to
apply for amnesty under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. It also
allowed illegal immigrants who were spouses or children of Americans to apply
for residency while living in the United States instead of returning to their
home country first.
United States immigration policy
received immediate scrutiny in the aftermath of the devastating terrorist
attacks of September 11, 2001 (see September 11 Attacks). United States
officials were especially concerned that the terrorists had been able to enter
the country without raising suspicions and that some had been able to remain in
the country after their visas expired. Six weeks after the attacks, Congress
passed the USA Patriot Act of 2001. It provided funds for additional border
agents and for implementing technologies and processes that would spot
terrorists when they attempted to enter the country. It also authorized the
indefinite detention of any noncitizen suspected of engaging in terrorist
activities. The attorney general was given discretion to determine who was a
suspected terrorist. Even before the law had passed, the U.S. Department of
Justice rounded up and detained for questioning several thousand individuals
from the Middle East. Federal immigration courts held hearings on their status
in secret, much to the dismay of immigrants’ rights groups. Those found to be in
the country illegally were ordered deported.
The federal government continued to
focus on immigration as a national security issue in 2002 when Congress passed
the Homeland Security Act, which abolished the INS and moved its functions from
the Department of Justice to the newly created Department of Homeland Security
(DHS). Within the DHS, the Bureau of Border Security was charged with border
patrol and enforcement of immigration laws, and the Bureau of Citizenship and
Immigration Services was given responsibility for handling applications for
visas, citizenship, asylum, and refugee status.
In early 2006 massive protests erupted
throughout the United States in response to new immigration bills under
consideration in Congress. A bill that passed the House of Representatives
especially alarmed people in the immigrant community because it made illegal
immigration a felony and criminalized humanitarian support for illegal
immigrants. Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in such major cities as
Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City, and smaller protests took place in
dozens of other cities. A one-day work stoppage on May 1, International Workers’
Day, also dramatized opposition to the legislation and the important economic
role played by the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States.
The House bill conflicted with legislation in the Senate, where Senate
Republicans were divided over new immigration legislation. The protests
reportedly pressured Congress into delaying consideration of the differences in
the two bills until after the November 2006 midterm elections. But before
Congress adjourned for those elections it authorized $1.2 billion to build a
fence stretching 1,120 km (700 mi) along the U.S.-Mexico border to keep out
illegal immigrants.
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