Migration into the United States: Perceptions of and Responses to Controlled and Uncontrolled Migration
| Published date | 01 April 1983 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2435.1983.tb00463.x |
| Author | André M. Surena,Michael J. Heilman |
| Date | 01 April 1983 |
Migration into the United States:
Perceptions
of
and Responses to
Controlled and Uncontrolled Migration
BY MICHAEL
J.
HEILMAN AND ANDRE
M.
SURENA
NATURE
OF
IMMIGRATION INTO THE UNITED STATES
The history of migration into the United States may be roughly divided into three
segments. The first segment comprises the period up until 1875. The second segment
includes the period 1875 to approximately 1960. The third segment is somewhat
harder to define, but began approximately in the late 1950’s.
lmmigration to
1875
The first period of migration was marked by
a
general indifference
to
the control of
migration. Indeed, during this period, it can be said that there was neither legal nor
illegal migration, since the distinction was irrelevant.
In
essence, any person who could
afford passage
on
a ship could come into the United States. This unrestricted immigra-
tion was welcomed at all levels of government, as there was strong belief that the states
needed to increase their populations.
What interest there was in immigration was expressed in laws regulating the condi-
tions under which aliens were transported to the United States. It was well known that
shipping companies were often only interested in passage money, and showed scant
regard for the health or safety of passengers.
Beginning around
1830,
xenophobic sentiment, which had always existed to a
certain degree, intensified with the arrival of large numbers
of
Irish immigrmts, who
were also the targets of anti-Catholic sentiment. Organizations such as the Native
American movement and the Know-Nothing Party appeared around this time, galva-
nizing social, religious and ethnic prejudice. The sudden and great increase in immigra-
tion from Europe between 1848 and 1850, kept the anti-foreign sentiment alive. But
despite the widespread support for restrictions
on
naturalization of foreign-born
persons and other restrictions
on
aliens in the United States, there was little effort to
control immigration.
lmmigration from 1875
to
1960
Finally, in 1875, Congress passed the first restrictive legislation. This legislation was
aimed at limiting certain types of Asian migration, and was followed seven years later
by the Chinese Exclusion Acts of 1882. The purpose
of
the Acts was to limit the
288
importation of contract labourers who were in competition with American workers. A
general contract labour law, applying
to
all
nationalities, which outlawed the entire
practice, was passed in 1885.
Passage of these laws marked the beginning of a flood of restrictive immigration
legislation, not only as to national origins, but as to categories of persons who would
be admitted or allowed to remain. One after the other, laws further restricting and
then eliminating Chinese immigration, were enacted. Provisions were
soon
added
barring the entry of certain categories of aliens, such as paupers and persons likely to
become public charges, persons suffering from disease, convicted felons, and persons
coming
to
engage in immoral activities. The latter restrictions were enacted in 1891
following the massive flow of immigrants in the late 1830’s, which helped to swell the
total figure of migrants from 1820
to
1880
to
ten million persons.
Immigration legislation in the early and middle twentieth century was characterized
by ever increasing restrictions
on
numbers and types
of
persons who could enter. In
1903, head taxes were instituted, and a ‘barred zone’ was established, encompassing a
large portion of the Asian continent, from which
no
immigration was allowed. The
grounds for exclusion were widened.
In
1921, immigrant quotas were enacted for the
first time.
The quotas were aimed at limiting immigration from countries outside of Western
Europe. Annual immigration from any given country was futed at three percent of the
total population of foreign-born persons listed in the United States census for
1910.
In
1924, this law was amended to establish a ‘national origins’ system. Under this scheme,
immigration was based
on
a futed ratio
of
the population in the United States as of
1920, according to the country of origin, rather than using a base of persons who had
been born in a particular foreign country. Although in 1952 a major revision
of
the
immigration laws was undertaken, the national origins quota system remained un-
touched. It was only abandoned in 1968, although total numerical ceilings were
maintained, limiting immigration from any one country to twenty thousand persons
per year.
At the same time that legal migration was being qualitatively and numerically con-
trolled, a parallel system to control illegal migration was developed. Immigration
inspectors, border patrol agents and other law enforcement personnel were employed
both to keep out undesirable aliens and to deport them if they were found in the
United States. By present U.S. standards, the methods and procedures followed by
federal authorities to exclude and deport aliens were swift and severe. Hearings for
deportable or excludable aliens were quite perfunctory, and the rights accorded to
aliens were minimal. It was considered neither unusual nor unfair
to
immediately
exclude or
to
deport persons who today would benefit from numerous opportunities
for administrative and judicial appeals.
Immigration from
I960
to
the
Present
Changes in the laws regarding alien admission and deportability and changes in the
character of the migrant population mark the third phase of migration
to
the U.S.,
which began about 1960. The first period
of
migration was marked by indifference
to
both quantity and quality of the immigration. The second period was marked by strict
control over immigration. The third period might be characterized as one in which
immigration has in fact become nearly uncontrolled. The statutory system purports
to
limit immigration both as to numbers and types of persons who may enter and remain.
289
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