Chinese Exclusion Act and Immigration Problems in the United States

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In 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed by Congress. This act exiled Chinese laborers from arriving in the United States. This was the first time ever that a specific ethnicity was banned from immigrating to the U.S.A. Racism against the Chinese was strong, so the ban remained for ten years, but was eventually made “permanent”. However, China soon became a war ally in World War II, so the ban was repealed in 1943. There are many issues concerning immigration and racism that still plague the United States today. For example, many people are still prejudice against groups of immigrants. Mexicans are often discriminated against. In this essay I will use internet resources, in-class documents, my knowledge of social studies, and current events to write an essay comparing the Chinese Exclusion Act to illegal immigration in the U.S.A. The essay will follow. Chinese workers were not always despised and unwanted in the U.S. In fact, from the 1850’s through the early 1870’s, Chinese workers were accepted and were very useful to the state of California. The more fruits and vegetables the Californians wanted, the more the Chinese grew and picked. A growing population of people in California also demanded more Laundromats, more restaurants, more buildings, and more railroads. The Chinese built and provided all of these. Moreover, the Chinese worked for such low wages, that the prices of things were cheaper than if white Americans had been supplying these services. However, soon America, especially California, fell on some hard times. The Chinese were used as scapegoats during this time. Everything seemed to be their fault. Just as Hitler blamed a minority for Germany’s economic slump and for losing World War I, the United States w... ... middle of paper ... ... As you can see the Chinese Exclusion Act (and the remainder of the acts that followed pertaining to Chinese immigration) is very similar to what is going on here with the Mexicans. All sorts of discrimination towards Mexicans (even the legal ones) is what the Chinese must have put up with all the time. The Chinese Exclusion Act has a lot in common with illegal immigration, and immigration in general. Mexicans and Chinese (when the laborers were illegal) were being smuggled or snuck into the U.S. all the time. Even if they were legal they were still often discriminated against. Although our government and people have changed a lot over those years, in some ways they are still very much the same. I hope you feel the same way as I do when I say that illegal immigration in the United States is very similar to what happened over a hundred years ago here to the Chinese.

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