May 6: Chinese Exclusion Act

On this date in History ... May 6, 1882: 

President Arthur signed and approved the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first significant law restricting immigration, that one senator called “the legalization of racial discrimination.” For the first time, Federal law denied entry of an ethnic working group on the premise that it “endangered the good order of certain localities.” It was an absolute ten-year freeze or moratorium for labor immigration from China.  

While only intended to last ten years, the law was intended to last only 10 years, but wasn’t repealed until 1943. The first major Chinese immigration was during the California gold rush that started in 1848. The Chinese population was “tolerated” as long as the gold was plentiful, but when the gold started running low, animosity toward “the foreigners” rose. The Chinese immigrants moved to larger cities, such as San Francisco, and took low paying jobs such as laundry and restaurant work where they were soon blamed for depressed wage levels.  

Chinese who were already in America when this bill passed now had additional requirements.  If they left the country, they had to get new certification to get back in the country, something that was very difficult under the 1882 Act.  

By 1943, the anti-Chinese feeling in America was much subdued and Congress repealed all exclusion Acts, allowing 105 Chinese born immigrants per year and gave foreign-born Chinese who were in America the right to apply for naturalization.

Sources include:  
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=47 
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc_large_image.php?flash=true&doc=47

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June 14: Ellis Island Burns

On this date in History .... June 14, 1897: 

A fire at Ellis Island burned the immigration station to the ground, destroying immigration records going back to 1855. The pine building was no protection against the raging fire.  The U.S. Treasury ordered the center rebuilt but with one condition: all buildings, then and in the future, will be built fireproof. 

The new building opened in December 1900 and over 2200 new immigrants stepped onto the shores of the U.S. that day.

December 24: Walter-McCarren Act

On this date in History .... 1952:

The Walter-McCarren Act goes into effect, changing some of the criteria for immigrants to be admitted to the U.S.  While it did little to change the quota system that was already in place, it still gave preference to European immigrants, specifically England, Ireland and Germany, giving these three countries two-thirds of the allocated slots available.  But it did remove some racial barriers that had previously excluded Japan and China, which were assigned very small quotas. 

 

The Act called for a more intense screening to make sure anyone labeled a subversive was not allowed entry and those from communist or communist-front organization were to be deported.  “In defending the act, Senator McCarren declared, "If this oasis of the world should be overrun, perverted, contaminated, or destroyed, then the last flickering light of humanity will be extinguished."

 

President Harry S. Truman took a very different view, calling the legislation "un-American" and inhumane. When the bill was passed in June 1952, Truman vetoed the bill. Congress overrode his veto, and the act took effect in December.”