APIA Timeline in the United States
Naturalization act of 1790
1875: Supreme Court declared that regulation of US immigration is the responsibility of the Federal Government.
1882: The Chinese Exclusion Act: Prohibited certain laborers from immigrating to the United States.
1885 and 1887: Alien Contract Labor laws which prohibited certain laborers from immigrating to the United States.
1891: The Federal Government assumed the task of inspecting, admitting, rejecting, and processing all immigrants seeking admission to the U.S
1892: On January 2, a new Federal US immigration station opened on Ellis Island in New York Harbor
1907: The US immigration Act of 1907: Reorganized the states bordering Mexico (Arizona, New Mexico and a large part of Texas) into Mexican Border District to stem the flow of immigrants into the United States
1917 - 1924: A series of laws were enacted to further limit the number of new immigrants. These laws established the quota system and imposed passport requirements. They expanded the categories of excludable aliens and banned all Asians except Japanese
The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 restricted immigration from a given country to 3% of the number of people from that country living in the U.S. in 1910
Ozawa v. U.S 1922 Naturalization was denied to a Japanese born man who was raised in America; 'white' was defined as 'Caucasian'
The Immigration Act of 1924 was aimed at further restricting the Southern and Eastern Europeans who had begun to enter the country in large numbers beginning in the 1890s
US vs Thind (1932) clarified that ‘white’ as intended by the writers of the original 1790 statue meant the popular definition, not the scientific anthropological sense of ‘Aryan.’ Therefore, Thind being Punjabi (Indo-Aryan) was denied naturalization.
Tydings - McDuffie Act of 1934
1940: The Alien Registration Act: Required all aliens (non-U.S. citizens) within the United States to register with the Government and receive an Alien Registration Receipt Card (the predecessor of the "Green Card").
1950: Passage of the Internal Security Act: Rendered the Alien Registration Receipt Card even more valuable. Immigrants with legal status had their cards replaced with what generally became known as the "green card" (Form I-151).
Immigrant Act 1965 Hart-Cellar Act
The 1965 act abolished 'national origin' quotas and specified seven preferences for Eastern Hemisphere quota immigrants:
(1) unmarried adult sons and daughters of citizens;
(2) spouses and unmarried sons and daughters of permanent residents;
(3) professionals, scientists, and artists of 'exceptional ability';
(4) married adult sons and daughters of U.S. citizens;
(5) siblings of adult citizens;
(6) workers, skilled and unskilled, in occupations for which labor was in short supply in the United States; and
(7) refugees from Communist-dominated countries or those uprooted by natural catastrophe.
1980 Act: Established a general policy governing the admission of refugees.
1982: Vincent Chin is beat to death by Ronald Ebens and his stepson Michael Nitz in Detroit
1986 Act: Focused on curtailing illegal US immigration. It legalized hundred of thousands of illegal immigrants. The 1986 Immigration Act is commonly know as the 1986 Immigration Amnesty. It also introduced the employer sanctions program which fines employers for hiring illegal workers. It also passed tough laws to prevent bogus marriage fraud.
1990 Act: Established an annual limit for certain categories of immigrants. It was aimed at helping U.S. businesses attract skilled foreign workers; thus, it expanded the business class categories to favor persons who can make educational, professional or financial contributions. It created the Immigrant Investor Program
1992: Rodney King Riots (mainly seen as a black-white issue, but Asian Americans, particularly Korean Americans were particularly implicated/racialized).
CA prop 187 1994: Deny schooling and medical care to illegal immigrants
USA Patriot Act 2001: Uniting and Strengthening America by providing appropriate tools required to intercept and obstruct terrorism.
Creation of the USCIS 2003: As of March 1, 2003, the US immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) becomes part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The department’s new U.S. Citizenship and US immigration Services (USCIS) function is to handle US immigration services and benefits, including citizenship, applications for permanent residence, non-immigrant applications, asylum, and refugee services. US immigration enforcement functions are now under the Department's Border and Transportation Security Directorate, known as the Bureau of US immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
2011: Fred Korematsu regarded as a Holiday by the state of CA (January 30, 2011)
2015: Peter Liang strikes anti-blackness talks within the API community. Trump candidacy incites chalkings around campus directed at people of color.
2018: As of August 2018, Trump administration deports historic number of Southeast Asians with past criminal records that have already served their time, specifically from Cambodian, Laos, Hmong, and Vietnamese communities. This further causes a rift in the already disadvantaged Southeast Asian community.
August 2018: DOJ sides with Asian Americans suing against Harvard admissions policy and Affirmative Action. Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ), Southeast Asian Action Resource Center (SEARAC), and many other organizations and scholars condemn DOJ’s decision by reaffirming the importance of Affirmative Action in uplifting disenfranchised and historically underrepresented AAPI communities.
- Citizenship limited to "free white persons"
- "any alien, being a free white person, may be admitted to become a citizen of the United State
1875: Supreme Court declared that regulation of US immigration is the responsibility of the Federal Government.
1882: The Chinese Exclusion Act: Prohibited certain laborers from immigrating to the United States.
1885 and 1887: Alien Contract Labor laws which prohibited certain laborers from immigrating to the United States.
1891: The Federal Government assumed the task of inspecting, admitting, rejecting, and processing all immigrants seeking admission to the U.S
1892: On January 2, a new Federal US immigration station opened on Ellis Island in New York Harbor
1907: The US immigration Act of 1907: Reorganized the states bordering Mexico (Arizona, New Mexico and a large part of Texas) into Mexican Border District to stem the flow of immigrants into the United States
1917 - 1924: A series of laws were enacted to further limit the number of new immigrants. These laws established the quota system and imposed passport requirements. They expanded the categories of excludable aliens and banned all Asians except Japanese
The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 restricted immigration from a given country to 3% of the number of people from that country living in the U.S. in 1910
Ozawa v. U.S 1922 Naturalization was denied to a Japanese born man who was raised in America; 'white' was defined as 'Caucasian'
The Immigration Act of 1924 was aimed at further restricting the Southern and Eastern Europeans who had begun to enter the country in large numbers beginning in the 1890s
US vs Thind (1932) clarified that ‘white’ as intended by the writers of the original 1790 statue meant the popular definition, not the scientific anthropological sense of ‘Aryan.’ Therefore, Thind being Punjabi (Indo-Aryan) was denied naturalization.
Tydings - McDuffie Act of 1934
- Exclusions of Filipinos
- Quota = 50 a year
- Filipinos already in US re-classified as 'aliens'
1940: The Alien Registration Act: Required all aliens (non-U.S. citizens) within the United States to register with the Government and receive an Alien Registration Receipt Card (the predecessor of the "Green Card").
1950: Passage of the Internal Security Act: Rendered the Alien Registration Receipt Card even more valuable. Immigrants with legal status had their cards replaced with what generally became known as the "green card" (Form I-151).
Immigrant Act 1965 Hart-Cellar Act
The 1965 act abolished 'national origin' quotas and specified seven preferences for Eastern Hemisphere quota immigrants:
(1) unmarried adult sons and daughters of citizens;
(2) spouses and unmarried sons and daughters of permanent residents;
(3) professionals, scientists, and artists of 'exceptional ability';
(4) married adult sons and daughters of U.S. citizens;
(5) siblings of adult citizens;
(6) workers, skilled and unskilled, in occupations for which labor was in short supply in the United States; and
(7) refugees from Communist-dominated countries or those uprooted by natural catastrophe.
1980 Act: Established a general policy governing the admission of refugees.
1982: Vincent Chin is beat to death by Ronald Ebens and his stepson Michael Nitz in Detroit
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Vincent_Chin
- Ebens & Nitz were given 3 years probation, fined $3000 & never spent time in jail
- 1984 - Ebens is found guilty of the second count & sentenced to 25 years in prison (Nitz acquitted)
- 1986 - Ebens conviction is overturned due to improper coaching of prosecution witnesses
- 1987 - Ebens cleared of all charges in retrial that was moved to Cincinnati, Ohio.
1986 Act: Focused on curtailing illegal US immigration. It legalized hundred of thousands of illegal immigrants. The 1986 Immigration Act is commonly know as the 1986 Immigration Amnesty. It also introduced the employer sanctions program which fines employers for hiring illegal workers. It also passed tough laws to prevent bogus marriage fraud.
1990 Act: Established an annual limit for certain categories of immigrants. It was aimed at helping U.S. businesses attract skilled foreign workers; thus, it expanded the business class categories to favor persons who can make educational, professional or financial contributions. It created the Immigrant Investor Program
1992: Rodney King Riots (mainly seen as a black-white issue, but Asian Americans, particularly Korean Americans were particularly implicated/racialized).
CA prop 187 1994: Deny schooling and medical care to illegal immigrants
USA Patriot Act 2001: Uniting and Strengthening America by providing appropriate tools required to intercept and obstruct terrorism.
Creation of the USCIS 2003: As of March 1, 2003, the US immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) becomes part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The department’s new U.S. Citizenship and US immigration Services (USCIS) function is to handle US immigration services and benefits, including citizenship, applications for permanent residence, non-immigrant applications, asylum, and refugee services. US immigration enforcement functions are now under the Department's Border and Transportation Security Directorate, known as the Bureau of US immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
2011: Fred Korematsu regarded as a Holiday by the state of CA (January 30, 2011)
- This is the first such commemoration for an Asian American in the US
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Korematsu
2015: Peter Liang strikes anti-blackness talks within the API community. Trump candidacy incites chalkings around campus directed at people of color.
2018: As of August 2018, Trump administration deports historic number of Southeast Asians with past criminal records that have already served their time, specifically from Cambodian, Laos, Hmong, and Vietnamese communities. This further causes a rift in the already disadvantaged Southeast Asian community.
August 2018: DOJ sides with Asian Americans suing against Harvard admissions policy and Affirmative Action. Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ), Southeast Asian Action Resource Center (SEARAC), and many other organizations and scholars condemn DOJ’s decision by reaffirming the importance of Affirmative Action in uplifting disenfranchised and historically underrepresented AAPI communities.