Prompt 1 (Gatekeeping and impact on Latinx and Asian Immigrants

Thesis

Immigration policies between 1880s and 1940s impacted the lives of Asian and Latinx immigrants by restricting their entry and rights while simultaneously exploiting their labor, reinforcing the U.S.´s role as a ¨ gatekeeping nation.¨ 

Roadmap:

This essay examines the Chinese Exclusion Acts as an example of how Asian immigrants were legally excluded and racialized, the Bracero Program as a case of how Latinx immigrants were recruited yet marginalized, before concluding with how the legacy of chinese exclusion shaped later policies such as the Johnson Reed Act, border enforcement, and category of the ¨ illegal alien.¨

Example 1: Chinese Exclusion Act

Definition: Prohibited the entry of Chinese laborers and denying them citizenship

Evidence of how the Chinese Exclusion Act Impacted Asians: Departures and Deportation

Departures: Passing of the CEA, increased anti-Chinese violence, mainly in the West, causing many Chinese individuals to have to flee the country. (thousands of Chinese immigrants left in just the first 14 months)

Deportations: The CEA established that illegal immigration was a civil offense and whoever was caught in the country unlawfully will be subject to deportation.

Elaboration on how Departures and Deportations impacted Asian lives:

• Criminalization: Simply being Chinese = treated as suspect.

• Emotional strain: Fear, stress, humiliation.

• Family disruption: Families split apart by departure or deportation.

• Exclusion reinforced: Shut out from economic opportunities + social belonging.

Evidence of how CEA impacted Asians: Geary Act and McGeary Amendment:

Geary Act and McGeary Amendment required Chinese laborers living in the U.S. to carry a certificate of residence, later certificate of identity, as proof of their legal status and if failed to do, so they are subject to deportation. The McGeary Amendment reinforced this by implementing even stricter policies.

Elaboration about the Geary Act and McGeary Amendment: 

Constant proof: Unlike European immigrants, they had to continually prove their right to exist in the U.S

Emotional impact: This caused stress, fear, and emotional turmoil.

Outsider status: Marked as “foreign” and never fully belonging.

Legacy: These measures institutionalized harassment, criminalized Chinese presence, and laid the foundation for later exclusionary policies that expanded to target other Asian groups, marking the beginning of a broader system of racialized immigration control.

Example 2: The Bracero Program

Transition: After the CEA, restrictive immigration policies expanded to target other immigrant groups, including Latinx communities.

Definition: The Bracero Program was an Agreement between the U.S. and Mexico, that brought Mexican men for temporary agricultural contract labor.

Evidence of how the Bracero Program affected the lives of Latinx Immigrants 1: Migrant Labor Agreement failure

Bracero workers were promised fair wages, protection from discrimination, food, housing, etc. but the U.S. never upheld these promises established in the Migrant Labor Agreement. Instead, they were exploited, discriminated, and paid low wages under poor conditions.

Elaboration of how Failure to uphold promises engraved in the Migrant Labor Agreement impacted lives of Latinx immigrants:

Evidence of how the Bracero Program affected the lives of Latinx Immigrants 2: Threatened Mexican American Citizens, receiving hate and lack of support:

Elaboration of how Mexican-American Activists and Labor Unions dislike impacted Braceros and Latinx Immigrants: 

Concluding Sentence for Bracero Program:

This program demonstated how the U.S. was not only a ¨ gatekeeping nation¨ because of it´s exclusion to immigrants but also its controlled inclusion. 

How the legacy of Chinese exclusion influenced the creation of other policies:

During the times of Chinese Exclusion, the Chinese Exclusion Act was the first to establish a federal immigration law that targeted a specific racial group. This set the groundwork for consequent policies such as the Johnson Reed Act of 1924.

Evidence 1, Chinese exclusion influencing other policies: Johnson-Reed Act

Act established a quota system based on ´national origin´ classifying most Asian immigrant as ¨ aliens¨ denying them citizenship, while favoring Northern and Western European immigrants. (Ngai, CH.1)

Elaboration on the Johnson Reed Act: 

Spread of discrimination to most Asians: This quota system spread restrictions. Now almost all asian immigrants were targeted, not just Chinese. 

Mexican Immigrants as Replacement: Mexican immigrants served as replacement agricultural laborers following the exclusion of Asian immigrants but faced challenges such as exploitation, lack of rights, and exclusion. (Lee & Ngai)

Evidence 2, Chinese exclusion influencing other policies: Led to more border enforcement and creation of the ¨ illegal alien¨ 

When Mexican laborers were recruited to replace excluded Asian labor, increased crossings led to stricter enforcement along the U.S.–Mexico border. This also fueled the labeling of migrants as ¨ illegal aliens,¨ a term first applied to the Chinese and later extended to Mexicans.  (Ngai, Ch.2)

Conclusion:

Asian and Latinx immigration histories are connected: Chinese Exclusion was the prototype for racialized immigration control, later applied to Mexican migrants in ways that shaped 20th century immigration laws.