Immigration in the US: Historical Phases and Contemporary Issues

The Great European Wave

Answer one question below. At least 250 words and at the end of your answer, you must identify the word count (e.g., Word Count: 175).

Q1. In Chapter 1 of the textbook, Immigrant America: A Portrait, the authors discuss the three phases of US-bound immigration in history: The Great European Wave (1880-1930), Immigration Retrenchment (1930-1970), and Immigration Rebound (1970-present).

During the period of the Great European Wave, entry control was based on the exclusion criteria (e.g., prostitutes, persons with certain contagious diseases, convicts, polygamists, anarchists etc.).

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first significant law that restricted immigration into the United States of an ethnic group. Based on the discussion of the historical background in the textbook, PBS website, and the PBS documentary, Becoming American:

The Chinese Experience [Program One: “Gold Mountain Dreams” only], explain why or how Chinese immigrants faced a wave of violence, terror and discrimination, and ultimately excluded by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. ?

”Becoming American: The Chinese Experience”  Program One: “Gold Mountain Dreams”  Go to the Dunbar Library website Click “Catalogue” Type “Becoming American: The Chinese Experience”

Source:

1848 Gold is discovered in California and a gold rush begins. 1850 Chinese American population in U.S. is about 4,000 out of a population of 23.2 million. Chinese in California form associations for mutual protection. 1865 Central Pacific recruits Chinese workers to build a transcontinental railroad.

1868 First transcontinental railroad is completed. 1870 Chinese American population in US is 63,199 out of a total population of 38.5 million. 1871 Anti-Chinese violence erupts in Los Angeles and other cities. Such violence continues throughout the decade. 1882 Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

Q2. During the period of the Immigration Retrenchment (1930-1970), Mexican migrants filled the need for agricultural and industrial labor. The outbreak of World War II created domestic labor shortages.

The Bracero Program—a bilateral guest worker program between the United States and Mexico that temporarily allowed contract Mexican labor to work in U.S. agriculture—was instituted in 1942 to address these shortages. Mexican workers were brought to the United States on contracts to work mainly in agricultural jobs on a seasonal basis without the prospect of becoming citizens.

Many braceros, once in the United States, simply did not return to Mexico when their contract expired. Responding to the concerns generated by the unanticipated rise in undocumented immigration from Mexico, the Eisenhower administration approved “Operation Wetback” in May 1954, which increased apprehensions of “undocumented Mexican immigrants” (wetbacks).

Immigration Retrenchment

The U.S. economy, however, depends heavily on immigrants from Latin America. Yielding to pressure from farmers and ranchers critical of the procedural requirements for securing braceros, Border Patrol officials sometimes engaged in a perverse bait and switch: apprehending undocumented border crossers and releasing them in Mexico, only to then escort them back into the United States as legal braceros.

The pressures of an increasing Mexican presence in the United States, the embarrassment from the exposure of the deplorable working conditions of braceros in the national television broadcast documentary Harvest of Shame, and labor union opposition coalesced to formally end the Bracero Program in 1964 after twenty-two years of operation. ?

Based on the film, Harvest of Shame, answer one question:

1) In the film, one farmer said: "We used to own our slaves. Now we just rent them." What does this imply about the working conditions and wages of migrant farmworkers?

2) In 1960, farmworkers earned $900 per year ($8,317 adjusted to 2021 dollars). According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average total income of farm workers is between $15,000 to $17,499 a year for individuals.

What similarities and differences did you notice between migrant farm labor 61 years ago and today?

Q3. One of the most important developments with regard to migration politics especially since 9/11 has been the linking of migration to security, a process of social construction termed securitization. Based on the supplementary reading, “Securitization after 9/11,” answer one question:

1) What were the "security packages" adopted and “exceptional measures” designed to enhance homeland security in the aftermath of 9/11?

2) To enhance homeland security after September 11, the U.S. government implemented a “zero-tolerance approach to immigration offenses, tougher controls on borders, and even extraterritorial controls beyond borders”. However, the author argues:

“The securitization of immigration has proven ineffective in achieving its prescribed goals” and “worse . . . the policies that have been introduced have aggravated the problem that they were supposed to address”.

In her book, Frontiers of Fear, Chebel d’Appollonia argues that the securitization of migration paradoxically has enhanced insecurity by generating new threats. Do you agree? Why or why not?

Illustrate how the securitization of migration generates new threats. ?Chebel d’Appollonia, Ariane. 2012. “Secuirtization ater 9/11” Pp.77-109 in Frontiers of Fear: Immigration and Insecurity in the United States and Europe. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.

Q4. We have heard the Southern Border Crisis covered in the media. Here is a quote from the media: “There are nearly 15,000 men, women, and children mostly from Haiti seeking refuge under a border bridge in Del Rio, Texas.” According to an advocacy group for human rights, WOLA:

“The roots of what is happening are in the Trump administration policies that caused massive numbers of people to be stuck on the Mexican side of the border—policies like “Remain in Mexico” (which forced over 70,000 asylum seekers to wait for their U.S. court dates in Mexico border cities) and “metering,

” A practice under which U.S. border authorities place severe limits on who is allowed to approach ports of entry and ask for asylum, in violation of U.S. and international law.” Based on the information listed below (you may add more by doing library research),

Discuss why or how the “Remain in Mexico” policy and the “metering” practice, along with changes to policies at the border due to covid-19, created the recent border crisis. ?

Q&A: Trump Administration’s “Remain in Mexico” trump-administrations-remain-mexico-program#_What_is_the_Trump_admin's ?How Trump’s Policies Are Leaving Thousands of Asylum Seekers Waiting in Mexico