1965 Immigration Law and New AA Community

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1965 Immigration Law and New AA Community

• EWS 404
• Week 5

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• Immigration Act of 1965
• Removed racial criterion in U.S. immigration
  policy Rapid growth of Asian population from 1
  million to 7 million by 1990.
• Census 2002
• The group has increased 72 in a decade and now
  numbers 11.9 million, representing 4.2 of
  Americas population while the total population
  grew 13, to 281 million.
• In NY City, Chinese population grew from 33,000
  in 1960 to 124,372 in 1990.
• McCarran Walter Act in 1952
• Quota for Asia -- 2,990 vs 149,667 for Europe.

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• Quota system period(1924-65)
• Britain 65,000 never filled German 45,000
  Italians 15,000 Poles 8,000 Asia -- 2,990
• During 1951-60
• 2.5 million immigrants came and mostly Europeans
  and political refugees
• New period of 1965-2003
• 1961-70 5.3 million.
• 1980s increased to 9.9 million.
• 1990-93 another 2.9 million -- by 1994,
  immigrants account for 30 of US population
  increase.
• Annual average legal immigrants 800,000 plus
  illegal immigrants 200,000-300,000.

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• Percentage of foreign-born
• 1910 13.5 1940 8.8 1980 6.2 1990 7.9
• In 1990, immigrants represented 3 of the
  population.
• Principle of 1965 Immigration Act
• 20,000 quota to each foreign country.
• 170,000 from the Eastern Hemisphere and 120,000
  from the Western Hemisphere 80 of available
  visas to extended family relatives of U.S.
  citizens and to immediate family members of
  permanent residents.
• 61 Chinese in 1969 entered in the family
  categories.
• By mid-1970s, the Chinese had also overtaken
  Italian in immigration number.

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• 7 categories
• 1. unmarried children (under 21) of U.S. citizens
  20.
• 2. spouses, unmarried children of permanent
  residents 20.
• 3. those with special skills 10.
• 4. married children (over 21) of U.S. citizens
  10.
• 5. brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens 24.
• 6. killed and unskilled labor 10, 7, refugees
  6.
• Spouses, minor children, and parents of U.S.
  citizens are exempted from the quota.
• Preference 5 was the most widely used and most
  popular preference in 1970-80s.

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Impact of 1965 Immigration Act on Asian America
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• A. Networks as the driving force in the chain
  migration process. By 1985, the Chinese
  population reached 1 million with 81 Chinese
  entering in the family categories while
  occupational immigrants dropped to 16.
• Sample Immigrant
• A student from Taiwan came for Ph.D in
  engineering, got a job, married to a U.S. born
  Chinese, becoming a lawful permanent resident.
• After 3 years of marriage, applied for
  citizenship, sponsored for parents under the
  immediate relative category, and also for
  siblings under the fifth category once parents
  entered, they could petition for unmarried sons
  and daughters under the second category.

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Sample Immigrant

• A doctor or engineer from India could immigrate
  under the third preference as a professional,
  accompanied by s spouse and unmarried, minor
  children. After 5 years of permanent residence,
  he/she could apply for citizenship, and then
  sponsor other relatives.
• A Korean woman who had married a U.S. serviceman
  (presumably a citizen) could immigrate in the
  immediate relative category, thereby becoming a
  lawful permanent resident of the U.S. After 3
  years of marriage, she could apply for
  citizenship, and then apply for her parents under
  the immediate relative category, and also for
  siblings under the fifth category.

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• B. Growth of Asian American Population
• 1965-1984 -- 419,373 Chinese were admitted.
• 1849-1930 -- 426,000 Chinese entered.
•  
• 1965 -- about 1 million, or less than 1 of the
  U.S. population.
• 1985 -- 5 million or 2 of the total population

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• C. Change in ethnic population ranks
• 1960 52 --Japanese 27 Chinese 20 Filipino
  1 Korean 1 Asian Indian.
• 1985 21 -- Chinese 21 Filipino 15 Japanese
  12 Vietnamese11 Koreans 10 Asian Indians 4
  Laotian 3 Cambodian and 3 other.
• 2000 Chinese, Filipino, Asian Indian, Korean,
  Vietnamese, and Japanese.
• The Japanese
• Only 4,000 came annually, and only 93,646
  Japanese entered the U.S. between 1965 to 1984,
  representing only 3 of all Asian immigrants.

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• D. Immigrant Population v. American-born.
• By 1990, Chinese community was transformed from
  61 American-born community in 1960s to 70
  immigrant community.
• Asian-born vs American-born
• 1970--34
• 1990--72
• Chinese--three-quarters
• Filipino--three-quarters
• Koreans--over eight-tenths

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• Intention of the Act
• The major concern of the law was European
  immigrants as it gave the first preference to
  immediate family members.
• U.S. congressman Emanuel Celler of New York
  assured the Congress that there would not be many
  Asian immigrants since the people of Asian had
  very few relatives in American.

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• Residential Dispersion
• Three-fourths or 80 or 5.7 million in 1990 of
  Asian Americans live in 10 states California,
  New York, Hawaii, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois,
  Washington, Florida, Virginia and Massachusetts.
  Those states also had the largest Asian
  populations in 1990
•  
• CA Filipino-731,685 Chinese-704,850
• NY Chinese-284,144 Asian Indians-140,985
• Hw Japanese-247,486 Filipino-168,682
• Texas Vietnamese-69,630 Chinese- 63,232
• Illinois Filipino-64,224 Asian Indian-64,200
• New Jersey Asian Indians-79,440 Chinese-59,084

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• Urbanization of Asian Americans
• More than half the Asian American population in
  2000 lived in just three states.
• California had by far the largest Asian
  population (4.2 million), followed by New York
  (1.2 million) and Hawaii (700,000).

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Urbanization of Asian Americans

• Honolulu's Asian American population stood at 68
  of the total. Daly City, with a 54 Asian
  American population, was second, followed by
  Fremont (40) and Sunnyvale (34).
• All three cities are in the Bay Area and ranked
  ahead of San Francisco (32.6). Irvine, in sixth
  place, had the highest proportion of Asian
  Americans among Southern California cities, with
  32.3. Garden Grove (32.2) and Torrance (31)
  were the other Southern California cities among
  the 10 communities with the highest percentage of
  Asian Americans.
• Also on the list were Santa Clara (31.4) and San
  Jose (28.8).

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• Age and Gender
• The median age in 1991 was 30.4 vs 33.9 for
  non-Hispanic whites.
• Gender
• 48.7 male vs 51.3 were female.
• Percentage of working age -- 18-64
• Asian -- 65 v. non-Hispanic white -- 61

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• Household and family structure in 1990s
• Asians of 15 older 31.1 never married
• 56.4 married
• 4 divorced
• non-Hispanic white 22 never married
• 58.1 married
• 5 divorced
• Inter-ethnically married Asian men
• 19 women 16.2
• Interracially married Asian men
• 12.3 women 24.2