Racialized Notions in U.S Immigration Policies

The arrival of immigrants to the United States is often associated with fear. Immigrants are vulnerable to attacks if they are cast as threats to the way of American life. A deeper look into immigration policies reveals that immigrant restrictions are seated in racialized notions. Immigrants before the founding of the nation came for the opportunities of a better life. The immigrants who would continue to come thereafter came for much the same reasons. But government policies demonstrate repeated attempts to block the immigration of undesirable immigrant communities.
As a result of heightened Communist hysteria in the 1950’s, Chinese Americans and immigrants found the legitimacy of their legal status disputed. Under no means were government

Chinese immigrants had to find other ways of entering, developing a system called paper immigration. Chinese immigrants would pose as the relatives of Chinese Americans in order to gain entry. The US government further facilitated this practice by creating documents proving the legal status of Chinese immigrants who had no relatives in the United States. This form of immigration became ingrained in the lives of many Chinese Americans who “had no choice but to perpetuate the false lineage…” Paper immigration became a point of attack in disputing Chinese legal status.
Following the Chinese Revolution of 1949, Chinese Americans and immigrants became the focus of Communist fears. Beliefs of Chinese as inferior began to incite anti-Chinese feelings. Everett F. Drumright, an American official, submitted a report warning of Chinese Communists where “he alleged that Chinese were culturally inclined to fraud and perjury since they ‘lacked a concept equivalent to the Western concept of an oath.’” Government action would soon exact actions to quell these

They served subpoenas for documents that would prove the illegitimacy of Chinese citizenship. The Six Companies, which represented the interests of the community, fought back claiming “the subpoena was being used for the ‘obvious purpose of oppressing and intimidating the entire Chinese American community…” Delivering mass subpoenas proved jurisdictionally unsuccessful. Yet, the INS Chinese Confession Program in 1956 birthed a second opportunity to dispute Chinese legal