Naturalization Of Immigration

As one of the world 's leading countries, the United States is an attractive destination for immigrants from all over the world to settle. However, these immigrants who are seeking a better life in America, oftentimes have trouble assimilating within the culture. They face things like discrimination and fear of deportation, if they arrive in the United States illegally. The struggle between immigrants and Americans has gone back for centuries, as the two have tried for years to find compromises in living together in one country. The government made efforts after the Civil War and during World War I against immigrants. For example, Congress became stricter on state laws in regards to regulating immigration. This included things such as passing …show more content…
The Naturalization Act of 1870 increased the time period for immigrants to wait 14 years before they can become a legal citizen of the United States. This act went through many reforms and even extended the laws and protections to African Americans. “Chinese Americans in the late nineteenth and earlier twentieth century responded to the exclusion laws through protest and adaptations.” (212, MPAIH). The Immigration Act of 1917 was the most sweeping anti-immigration act in perhaps all of US History. This act imposed literacy tests on those wanting to come into the United States and even barred immigration from the Asia-Pacific Zone. Since the Chinese were so highly scrutinized, they found relief in forming the community within “Y-World”. They would gather here for different cultural events such as educational tours and movie nights. This community has stuck around today under a new name, Chinatown. This community brings in tourists to the San Francisco and New York areas to experience the unique culture and traded goods that were specialized from China. Through this, the Chinese leaders in the area used this as a platform to try and speak up for their people who were being discriminated against. The text provides an example of “Chinese Immigrant Leaders Protest Discrimination, 1874” It …show more content…
W. Deportation). In this particular case, Jackson fought his deportation through the judicial system and even got the Supreme Court involved. He was “Charged upon which arrest was made: That he has been found advocating or teaching the unlawful destruction of property; and that he was a person likely to become a public charge at the time of his entry into the United States.” The public charge was that he was suspected of having the disease of Gonorrhea upon entrance of the States. He had an attorney who tried to reopen the case several times and fight for a fair trial. Jackson’s rebuttal was that, “The petitioner claims that he is unlawfully restrained; that there is no evidence to support the order of deportation; that he has been denied a fair hearing; and that the order is void.” After challenging the court system Charles Jackson was able to change his fate from being deported due to the fact that his public charge was a disease he was cured of and would not be bringing any contagious diseases into the United States. He was also able to convince the judge there was no evidence of him advocating or teaching anything against the government, which is another reason that government tries to find to deport immigrants back to their homeland. Even though he was found to be a member of a WW1 organization and accused of donating and participating in the organization, Jackson denies it and blames