(-Actual link to paper is Link)

Abstract

Immigration is a topic of controversy in the United States, but the two biggest immigrant groups to the U.S. are of Chinese and Mexican descent. These immigrants have been targeted throughout the past century both socially and politically regarding how they emigrate to the U.S. Methods used while writing this essay include causes for immigration from both illegal immigrant groups, methods regarding the group's arrival to the U.S., how they’re treated in the U.S. and laws targeted at limiting their constant migration to the U.S. as well as laws helping them be protected or able to obtain legal status in the U.S. during the 20th and 21st century. If a person is being exploited or mistreated they always have options to seek help; however, most immigrants don’t seek help for fear of being deported during that particular moment. (I think you can eliminate or shorten this part “If a… moment.”) Mexican and Chinese illegal immigration are similar in that both want better opportunities, and to obtain a better life than offered to them in their home country they often risk their lives. Mexican and Chinese immigration aren’t much different if one regards political and social exclusions both groups have undergone, and this essay aims to target both the social and political similarities and differences between Mexican and Chinese immigration. For the purposes of this paper doesn’t explore immigration by those who enter the U.S. legally, are refugee’s of the state, or get married with a U.S. citizen to obtain papers. (I think you can also eliminate that last sentence since it’s not extremely necessary)

Word Count: 246(to work on in the next week)

How does the U.S. react socially and politically to Chinese immigration during the 1890’s- 1920’s in comparison to Mexican immigration during the 1950’s-present day America?

Immigration is a topic of controversy in the U.S. Primarily when a person hears the word immigrant they think of a person of tanned skin and not a light skinned dark haired one. Isn’t it controversial how Chinese are generally stereotyped to be smart and aiming to become doctors or engineers. Whereas, Mexicans are seen as child bearers, gangsters, and farmers. However, both Chinese and Mexicans are the top two largest ethnic groups migrating to the  U.S. currently. Both groups of immigrants hold different reasons for wanting to enter the United States, and they have different laws targeted at prohibiting their entrance to the U.S. This paper will not discuss people who immigrate by human trafficking, get visas, green cards, or are refugees of Chinese countries or of Mexico. The paper only targets those who are illegal immigrants to the U.S.

Hispanic immigrants seek emigration to the U.S. due to a binational wage gap, wage they can earn in the U.S. as opposed to wage they can earn in Mexico, due to the occupation status in another country, the healthy environment in which one can work in, the natural environment in which one lives in, and due to the high crime rates in Mexico.  Taking Mexico, as an example, it is arguably one of the most corrupt governments found in the world; researching specifically the reason  why people would want to leave Mexico, research has found many fall to poverty because of the lack of opportunities available in Mexico; a person can work for months in the country and earn as little as $3.60 a day for eight hours of work while in the U.S they can earn up to $10.80 an hour. People do not leave their country because they want to leave their family, but rather because they have to leave their family in order to ensure their survival. At times people live without having much to eat, so they turn to their only possibility: a chance of gaining a better life in the “land of opportunities,” even while risking being an “illegal alien,” or  possibly even death while crossing the border be it by desert or on a railroad way as is shown in the film  The Other Side of Immigration directed by Roy Germano. Most Mexican immigrants don’t plan to stay in the U.S. permanently; they only plan to stay until they earn enough money to go back to their country and create their own business, but most of the time this isn’t the case.

Of the people residing in America 51% of those foreign born are Latinos while 32% are Chinese; legally U.S. born Latinos account for 33.5% and Chinese for 6.8%.Parents look to go to the U.S. for better opportunities, and at times they leave their children behind; later on those same children leave their country in hopes of reuniting with their parents. Which leaves them to do the difficult journey of crossing the border like their parents had done before them.

Chinese immigration

Chinese immigrants, similarly, also look for better opportunities, better working conditions, and the American dream everyone talks about; they want freedom of speech and freedom of doing what they want. The majority of Asiatic migration occurred during the Gold Rush era in the 1890s when Chinese immigrants came to the United States in search for jobs, any jobs, even if the job paid them poorly. This was because in their country it was a time for hardships, and there was revolutions leading to the Chinese Civil War.

Therefore, a primary factor for Mexican emigration and Chinese emigration is that of a better living and a better pay where those tasked with sustaining their families could afford to feed their families. Chinese present day minimum wages include  $1.70 an hour, and for Mexican’s is less than $5 a day. It has been a theory that people who migrate to the United States often tell those they know back in their hometown that life is better in the United States, thus, making the idea of migrating more popular as time passes by. An immigrant might be paid only six dollars an hour or even one hundred dollars a week, and at times they aren’t even paid overtime, but sometimes even that is better than what they could’ve found in their hometowns.

For Mexicans crossing to the United States at times means going through the Sonoran desert, which divides both countries. Other times people use train routes, and, employee coyote’s, which are profesional illegal immigrant smugglers. Although, over the past two decades statistics have shown that the death rates amongst those crossing the border have doubled; at one point in time there was only around 200 people died per year, and now there’s about 400 deaths per year from illegal crossing to the United States.This can possibly be one of the biggest difference between asiatic migration and mexican migration, the difference between a sea border and a land border.

Chinese migration is different in that it feels like a world away from the United States; they seek greatness like many other emigrants from other countries, but like many other emigrants they are disappointed when they realise there isn’t really unlimited opportunities, and America isn’t really the land where dreams come true most times. Chinese migration methods include taking a steam ship, going by boat, and often they were recruited by work labourers to work in plantations where they were exploited, and they worked during the gold rush periods for very little wage in comparison to American workers, but they did earn more than they would’ve earned in their home country. Chinese emigrants also worked for labour intensive farming, and their prime immigration years was after 1965.

Chinese immigration first began around 1843 with the Chinese due to political, social, and cultural changes occurring within their new government due to the Meiji Restoration. Later Chinese immigration was marked with the building of the American Railroads in 1869. What this group did not count on was the racial discrimination they would suffer such as hate crimes which included violence and even possibly death. An example of  such hate crimes could include Vincent Chin’s murder by the hands of two white American men .

These men claimed it was the Chinese fault and Chin’s that there was a U.S. recession and because of their bad misfortune they could possibly lose their jobs. These men were not punished for their actions even when they killed Chin. Rather, they were put in probation for two years and fined $3,700 each because they had no previous charges and they were White. This court sentence caused feelings of distrust amongst the safety of other Asiatic immigrants leading them to think that if a White male were to kill them; then, they’d be free with no consequences if that white male had a job and had no previous charges. This then leads to the question of what causes the people with no previous charges to commit a crime: is it freedom of speech on the individual’s own thoughts or is it the thoughts of the group which influenced their actions. There is also a possibility that these individuals were influenced by the actions and laws which had been created in their recent years causing discrimination towards those coming from Chinese backgrounds.

Similarly there was a case of Anastasio Hernandez who was shocked to death by Border Patrol Officials in 2010 using a stun gun. Anastasio had been found trying to sneak into the U.S. when officials caught him and demanded he not resist while they deported him back to Mexico. In this case there was a “motive” for the officers tossing the individual which was “acting in a violent manner”. Homicide officials then investigated the case finding the officers not guilty. New found footage showed videos of the event in which Anastasio did not look violent and rather five police officers were surrounding and beating him. He was then tasered; although police officials say he was fighting against police officials. As can be seen in the video he did nothing wrong, but apparently his actions had been “resistant” and “violent.” In which said video all you are able to see is Anastasio pleading for police officials to stop, and they ignore him while at least five of the keep shocking him. The department of Justice and Homeland Security sealed their decision of not punishing the officers and did not investigate the incident further than what the officers reported.

In these ways the security shown by the U.S. is a controversial at times; when non-citizens of the U.S. and even those who don’t look like the wanted blonde stereotype are often discriminated even though they’re supposed to rely on their security system to keep them safe, but how can they feel safe when the ones in power ignore their rights. The same events which occurred to other immigrants like the Chinese around fifty or so years ago are now  occurring to Mexican immigrants.

There’s also cases where immigrants are protected by the law. The Constitution itself guarantees the legal rights, civil rights, and fundamental liberties to every person in the United States. For example, the Constitution protects against discrimination from obtaining a job based on a person’s accent, and the color of their skin; similarly examples include :  “Jose [who] is from the Dominican Republic and worked for a company owned by a Dominican. Jose[‘]s skin is darker than the owner or any of the other employees. He is the only employee who was not given supervisory training. If the failure to provide supervisory training was based on the color of his skin, this violates the law.”  Also people of illegal immigrant status also have rights like the right to not open one's home to officials, and hence not be deported unless they obtain a legal document explaining the reason to protect their homes from a raid. There have been cards called, “Red Cards” which explain a person’s rights on one side and on the other side an english written basis saying why the person will not open the door; hence giving them freedom to not answer any questions or open their door.

It is no surprise to know that laws have been made targeting specific racial groups given that Mexico borders the U.S., and the U.S. has become known worldwide as the “land of the free.” Therefore, people attempt to reach the country even overseas, but the U.S. has also responded to over immigration by applying multiple sets of laws. Some of theses laws are often targeted at specific emigrant groups.

Mexicans today are one of the most targeted groups in immigration policies today in the United States although Mexican immigration to the United States peak years were the 1990s. One such immigration law targeted at the Mexican immigrants was Proposition 187 which denied illegal immigrants social services in the state of California. Teachers, police officials, and health care professionals would then be able to deny any immigrant education, health services, and other such public things. The law was passed in the year 1994, but taken off that same month being later voided forever in 1999 due to Proposition 187 being deemed unconstitutional. Although this law was first proposed, according to some law officials, because the state did not have the funding for additional services to everyone; however, it is ironic that the law required social service officials to report people who they suspected were “undocumented illegal immigrants who looked and sounded different.”

Proposition 187 is seen to be targeted at hispanics, and those of asiatic descent, because during the 1990s the highest rate of immigrants came from Mexico, and before then from China, Japan, and Korea. With Proposition 187 children could be denied an education which would also make immigrants rethink if they really wanted to migrate to California even if their children would not be able to better themselves. Years later, a similar law passed in Arizona. The law is called SB 1070 or more popularly known as Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act.

SB 1070 was passed in 2010 and it is thought to be targeted at hispanics. The law states that all people within Arizona over the age of 14 must carry valid documentation within 30 days of being in the state. If a person fails to do so, and an officer finds you without documentation then they have a right to deport you.This law has caused many to be deported from Arizona, but the issue is that a police officer will stop people who look illegal. A person who looks illegal apparently isn’t white skinned with blonde hair, but dark skinned or at times even those who look indian or chinese. However, looking at the geographic region of where Arizona is located, and its high rate of immigrants then one can determine that the law may be targeted at hispanics.

With the American Dream people yearn for a better life, and a better life means a better education with a better wage, and better living standards. However, there are laws, like SB 1611, which have attempted to ban education to those who do not have legal documentation. SB 1611 was a proposed law which would have revoked the citizenship of children with undocumented parents, allowed schools to deny education to those with whom were illegal, and like Proposition 187, deny social services to those who were not U.S. citizens. However, SB 1611 did not pass because it violated the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Because this law was deemed unconstitutional Arizona came up with another law called HB 2281 which would limit what schools would teach.

HB 2281 proposed that ethnic studies should be banned from schools in Arizona. Students then could not learn about their heritage in school, or read any text relating to the overthrow of the U.S. government. The consequences for this law would include failure to pass grade, or shutting down a school. However, some believe the law was proposed by Republican Tom Horne to shut down Mexican American Studies at Tucson Unified School District.

Similarly laws have been passed to exclude people from Asiatic countries. Famously known, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 singled out Chinese immigrants restricting their income to the U.S.. Immigrants of Chinese descent were denied the right to obtain citizenship, but they could be deported. It was a surprise when the proposal for the law was passed. The law was ruled constitutional when three Justice’s were missing from the courtroom, and Justice Gray passed the law; however, ten years later the law was taken out because it violated the 1868 Treaty Burlingame-Seward Treaty with China.  This did not stop American look for Chinese immigrant restrictions.

Later the Geary Act was passed which was, basically, an extension of the Chinese Exclusion Act, but with a different name. The Geary Act made Chinese Immigrants register and get certification to re-enter the country before they left. If Chinese failed to get registration then they’d possibly be able to face deportation.Then the Geary Act went on to be represented by the Scott Act. In the Scott Act immigration to the U.S. was prohibited, and all Chinese immigrants who went back to China could no longer go within the United States. These laws were targeted mainly at Chinese immigrants.

In this cases freedom of speech can be seen to cause harm in the way of the actions of the people who inherently believed they were in the right to treat these immigrants in the certain way they treated them. Their actions were caused by ideas, and their ideas were caused by the social norm at which point in time the social norm did not frown upon treatment of immigrants. Which may have led this action induced events to take place.

Similarly, the Page Act of 1875 clearly identifying that Asiatic immigrants had to voluntarily migrate to the U.S. with no prostitution, and they couldn’t support any coolie because then they’d face deportation. The law had no way of proving if a person was a coolie or not, so most times in cases where anyone from Asiatic countries seeked residence they’d target them as coolies. During this time immigration laws also put restrictions as to how many asiatic immigrants could enter the U.S.

In contrast to all of this, the 1790 Naturalization Law stood before all these laws and it stated that all individuals who applied for citizenship in the U.S. would be given the citizenship if they were white and had lived in the U.S. for more than two years. It is ironic, though, that this law changed as soon as racism grew, and more immigrants went to the U.S. because with the Naturalization Law all children under the age of 18 would be given citizenship too, but now the procedure is much harder and, of course, laws have changed because of the high rates of people trying to get into the U.S.

Proposition 187, SB 1070, HB 281, SB 1611, the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Page Act of 1875, and the Scott Act all targeted a specific group be it Mexican, hispanic, or of asiatic descent. There are laws that limit the growth of each particular group within the U.S.  and they create social tension during certain particular times. Because during the late 1800s, when their population was beginning to grow, those from Chinese descendance were willing to work for very little money they were taken advantage of and citizens of the state grew to hate the Chinese and claimed they were stealing their jobs. Similarly, those from Mexican countries during the late 1900s, whose population also began recently growing, were targeted and laws and propositions were made to try to limit their emigrating numbers because of social response towards the group and their role in obtaining jobs.

However, in comparison, more laws passed targeting Chinese countries going into the U.S. than laws targeting Mexicans. Mexicans  have had many propositions and bills aimed toward them, but not all of them have passed. Plus, there are recently only a few states who are openly against them immigrating with such targeted laws like Arizona and Texas. Chinese exponential growth and Mexican exponential growth also occurred at different time periods. Where Chinese immigrants have immigrated to the U.S. in large numbers for over a century now, Mexicans have only been immigrating to the U.S. for four or five decades.

Rather than previously thought, all immigration laws are not negative; some immigration laws are positive which have been passed by the continuance of freedom of speech in trying to get the law’s approval. Such laws are the recently made DACA; DACA is helping children who’ve come to the U.S. when they were younger than 16 and have been in the U.S. for at least ten years before the year of 2007. The DAPA, hence, is similar in that it also grants a work permit for two years, but as opposed to the DACA it is aimed for parents of U.S. citizen children. The requirements include that they have to continuously live in the U.S. since January 2010, have been presented in the U.S. in November 20, 2014, and have not  been convicted of any criminal offenses. The DACA and DAPA have helped thousands be protected from being deported in the past couple of years.

This is not to say is that previous laws didn’t help those who were U.S. immigrants wanting to maintain permanent status inside the country like the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. The Immigration and Nationality Act which helped abolish the national quotas system, and replaced it with checking relationships with immigrants and citizens of the U.S. This Act helped reunite families inside the U.S. and at the same time attract labour workers inside the country; this was a positive Act in that it increased the number of  Visas the U.S. could give out to 170,000 a year.

Later, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 helped legalise millions of immigrants who had previously entered the U.S. The bill would enforce punishments to those who hired undocumented workers. The law helped thousands obtain legal status in the U.S. and those who entered the U.S. before January 1982 would be eligible for permanent status in the U.S. if they had no previous criminal records.

It is wonderful to be different at times in our society, but sometimes being different isn’t so great. Chinese were refused seats in buses, public benches, and they were segregated like the African American’s before they obtained their equality rights. They were looked at as worst off than the Japanese because they “stole jobs” from the American man, and they were there during the Gold Rush period plus they created a law against them being blunt that they didn’t approve of them in the U.S.

The Chinese were called names, but it went a step further because they were also killed by lawless “wretches.” This was unfair because other Chinese witnesses who saw a lawless event occur to one of their own wasn’t allowed to testify in court; therefore, trials were biased and in favor of those who committed the crimes; an example of this was the case with Vincent Chin’s murder. Nowadays Asian American’s are treated differently for the most part. Asian-Americans are regarded as being the country's most educated, fastest growing, and highest earning racial group. They are praised, looked up to, and enhanced as part of our community. Asian Americans are, however, also afraid of coming out of the shadows to get help in their social security status within this country from DACA, or obtaining residency according to local newscast stations such as Al Rojo Vivo.

Mexican’s have been regarded as having too many children and being undereducated. Because of Mexico’s association with cartel’s and their corrupt government system some Americans think that Mexicans will bring more crimes to America. Mexican’s have been known to be called: field rat, lawnmower, Mexican’t, Miguel, Roach, wetback, etc.. These particular depictions of mexicans can be seen by the influence freedom of speech and journalism has on the treatment of certain racial groups. Mexicans aren’t really looked at as being a benefit to the community, but just more people coming in to the U.S. taking over jobs that others don’t want or as some people say, “stealing jobs.”

Conclusion

Although, immigrants from Chinese and Mexican communities are frowned upon they are not completely shunned. Both are given opportunities such that they can maintain legal status in the U.S. It is true that there are racial names for those who aren’t wanted within the state, but the basic nature of the human race is to insult that which it fears at times and seek for ways to make themselves feel protected. Those targeted are often new races immigrating to the U.S. Illegal immigrants have opportunities helping them gain legal status to the U.S. equally like those from Mexican and Chinese communities; however, they also have laws shunning their entrance to the country. Both Chinese and Mexican immigrants look for better opportunities, but they encounter hate crimes. However, although they are illegal they have rights which help protect them from exploitation and unfair treatment most times. Such is the case for future generations and past generations were new policies are made to better the American nation. Having a different skin color, and speaking a different language doesn’t mean people don’t go through similar things, it’s just a different skin color while a person migrates to the U.S; it’s just an ethnic group in which one is safely identified into.

 

For the conclusion, you could have less facts/summary (like the part you mention there’s laws that protect them) but talk about how this issue ties back to the First Amendment rights.

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