USAPatriotActenactedwithin6weeksof9/11authorizedtheattorneygeneraltodetain

noncitizenswithoutahearingbarsforeigncitizensfromenteringthecountrysolelyonthebasis
oftheirlanguageauthorizeddeportationbasedonanysupporttoadisfavoredgroup,withoutany
requirementthatthesupporteconnectedtoaterroristact
Immigrants
America,anationfoundedbyimmigrantsanditsalluregroundedinperceptionsoffreedom,
drawspeoplefromallovertheworldinhopesofturningtheAmericandreamintoareality.
DespitetheattractiveidealsthatAmericansspout,theUnitedStatesprovestimeandtimeagain
thatthelandofthefreeisonlyfreefortrueAmericans.
Foreignersfromnationsthroughouttheworldshedthemselvesfromprejudiceanddiscrimination
intheirhomelandstoresideinacountrythatwillprovidealifethatbenefitsnotonlythemselves,
butfortheirfamiliesandfuturegenerations.However,thepoliciesonimmigrationsetupin
Americahavenotbeeninfavoroftheseforeigners.
Althoughimmigrationhasrisenastimeprogresses,theroadtoobtaincitizenshipisnoeasyfeat.
ThisconceptofatrueAmerican_____________.
ImmigrationpoliciesarenotsimplyreflectionsofwhomweregardaspotentialAmericans,
theyarevehiclesforkeepingoutthosewhodonotfittheimageandwelcomingthosewhodo.
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TheracializationofwhoisatrueorrealAmericanhasaffectedU.S.enforcementpolicies
directedatonlycertainundocumentedaliens.Whilestrictenforcementpoliciesareinforce
againstundocumentedMexicans,thelargenumbersofundocumentedIrishnationalsinthe
UnitedStatesinthe1980swererewardedwithspecialvisaallocations.
WhenPresidentBillClintonwasinoffice,theBorderPatrolembarkeduponastrategyof
controlthroughdeterrencethatresultedinmorethan2,000Mexicanmigrantdeathsoveraten
yearperiod.
From the beginning, Americas policies on immigration have been developed to target
and exclude certain groups whose nationality, religion, and/or ideologies conflict with
what its citizens consider to be a true American.
Even during the colonial era, individuals who had their eyes set on the New World were
turned away because of their religious beliefs or unorthodox views. If an individual had
practiced Catholicism, for example, their admission into the New World would have been
denied as written in colonial charters. (Hing 2004) Does a persons religious belief
constitute a just enough reason to be barred from citizenship?

Benjamin Franklin spoke out about foreign influence during that time period. In 1755,
Franklins expression against further German migration to Pennsylvania is not simply
about language, but also included their manners. His words had an exclusionist point of
view with questions like, Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a
colony of aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to germanize us instead of our
anglifying them? Benjamin Franklin was not the only person who spoke about foreign
influence and immigration in this manner. This sentiment, where foreign influence and
immigration is seen as a deterrent from the United States social unity and order, is
shared by a majority of American citizens.
Fears of foreign influence led to an early attempt at federal immigration control. The
1798 Alien and Sedition Laws, a series of four laws passed by the Federalist-controlled
U.S. Congress and signed by President Adams, purportedly were enacted not only to
respond to hostile actions of the French Revolutionary government on the seas, but also
to quell political opposition from the Democratic-Republican Party, led by Jefferson and
James Madison. The first of the laws was the Naturalization Act, passed by Congress
on June 18. This act required that aliens be residents for fourteen years instead of five
before they became eligible for U.S. citizenship. Congress then passed the Alien
Friends Act on June 25, authorizing the president to deport aliens dangerous to the
peace and safety of the United States during peacetime.
As long as they were the right kind of immigrants, the new nation wanted them. In
1791, Alexander Hamilton warned Congress that if the United States were to develop
into an industrial power, immigration would have to be encouraged so as to offset the
scarcity of hands and the dearness of labor.
The first comprehensive federal immigration law, passed in 1864, was an Act to
Encourage Immigration. This law established the first U.S. Immigration Bureau, whose
primary function was to increase immigration so that American industries would have an
adequate supply of workers to meet production needs during the Civil War. The law was
repealed in 1868.
America, during the nineteenth century, had a boundless need for people to push back
the frontier, to build railways, to defend unstable boundaries, and to populate new
states. Immigration was required for settlement, defense, and economic well-being.

Though the sheer number of foreigners immigrating to the United States has been on an
upward slope, the majority of Americans still believe that immigrants are a burden to the
nation.
Of the various nationalities within the Asian race, the Chinese population was the first to
immigrate in substantial numbers. Driven by the rice shortage and the devastation of
the Taiping Rebellion, and drawn by the lure of gold, Chinese peasants and laborers
began making the long journey in the 1840s. Because there was a need for immigrants
to bolster economic progress, the Chinese were welcomed with open arms. Their
industriousness and above all else, the pay at which they were willing to work for
gained the Chinese much praise in America during the nineteenth century. Eventually, it
was widely acknowledged that without the Chinese, it would have been impossible to
complete the western portion of the transcontinental railroad in the time required by
Congress.
In 1857 at the Oregon constitutional convention, a nativist amendment was introduced
to exclude the Chinese. It failed principally because most in attendance felt that Chinese
made good washers, good cooks, and good servants. Despite official encouragement
of importing Chinese labor by some, the Chinese who arrived encountered racial
animosity by the 1840s. Racial prejudice, exacerbated by fear of competition from
aliens, prompted calls for restrictive federal immigration laws.
Anti-Chinese groups surfaced, sporadic boycotts of Chinese-made goods, and antiChinese editorials were common in San Francisco newspapers.