Immigration Push and Pull Factors, Legislation, and Historical Waves

Push Factors: Reasons people leave their home country. Examples: duress, natural disasters, political instability, lack of economic opportunity, persecution.
Pull Factors: Reasons people move to a specific country, like the US. Examples: promise of space and work.

Government management and control of immigration has been minimal until relatively late in US history.
Public perception of immigration impacts legislation and executive orders.

Understanding the immigrant experience is crucial, as it is not captured by statistics alone.
Podcast project focuses on immigration stories to understand larger immigration patterns.

The US as a safe haven: immigration increases when other countries face crises (e.g., Irish Potato Famine, Cuban Missile Crisis).
Census data on ethnicity changes over time, with dips around World War II.
Significant shift between European and other regions, with an increase in Intra-Americas immigration (Central to North America).
Immigration numbers correlate with historical events like the Korean War, Vietnam War (increased Asian immigration).
Industrialization in the late 1800s led to a peak in immigration around 1910.
Progressive Era reforms were influenced by urbanization, immigration, and industrialization.
The impact of 9/11 likely decreased immigration due to sanctions on Muslim countries.
Technological advancements (e.g., steamship technology) made travel to the US quicker and cheaper.

No restrictions or requirements for immigration.
No records were kept until 1820.
Free Immigrants:
- Mainly from Northwestern Europe (British Isles, Germany, Netherlands, France).
- 85% from the British Isles alone during the colonial period.
20% arrived as enslaved persons (forced migration).
Many came as indentured servants on labor contracts.
American Dream:
* Early American Dream focused on community and freedom from government intrusion, economic opportunity.
* Post-World War II American Dream shifted to consumer culture (car, house).
Naturalization Act of 1790:
- Established citizenship requirements: two years of residency, good moral character, and being a "free white person".
- Extended to five years of residency by 1802 (still in place today).

Data from slavevoyages.org has reshaped historians' understanding.
The majority of enslaved persons were transported to Brazil and the Caribbean, not North America.
Between 1525 and 1866, 12.5 million Africans were taken, with only 10.5 million surviving the journey.
Less than 500,000 ended up in what became the United States.

Increase in immigration, still largely Europeans (Irish, German, Scandinavians).
Beginnings of immigration from Asia, particularly Chinese immigrants.
Increasing nativism: anti-immigrant sentiment.
Know Nothings:
* First nativist political party in the mid-1800s.
* Linked up with the Republican party because they saw slavery and immigration both as threats to opportunities for native born white people.
First specific restriction: 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act (suspended Chinese immigration for ten years and denied eligibility for citizenship).
Political Cartoons: Depicted both pro and anti-immigrant sentiments.

Shift from Northwestern European to Southeastern European, Latin American, and East Asian migrants.
Immigration Statistics:
- In 1880, 87% of immigrants were from Northwestern Europe.
- By 1900, over 80% were from Southeastern Europe, Latin America, and East Asia.
Ellis Island opens.
Backlash: immigrants taking jobs, bringing diseases and crime, not assimilating, and bringing dangerous ideas (socialism, anarchism).
Legislation:
* 1882: Chinese Exclusion Act.
* 1903: Denial of immigration based on ideological threats (anarchists, socialists, polygamists).
* 1917: All Asian immigration restriction.
* 1924: Immigration Act established country of origin quotas based on 1890 immigration statistics, favoring Northwestern Europeans.
Sacco and Vanzetti case as an example of anti-Italian sentiment.
The 1924 immigration quotas lasted until 1965.
The Great Depression increased the desire to curb immigration, with a loophole for Mexican migrants as crucial labor.
Internal migrations, such as the Great Migration of Black populations from the South to the North and Midwest, occurred due to labor shortages caused by decreased immigration.

1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act: removed racial and country of origin barriers, increasing the annual admittance rate to 300,000 per year with no quotas.
Between 1930 and 1960, 4 million immigrants arrived in The US, relative to 58 million after the 1965 Act.
East Asia and Latin America make up the majority of immigrants.
Legislation since the 1980s has focused on managing undocumented migration.
* 1986: Reagan passed a bill that gives amnesty, like, 3,000,000 undocumented migrants in the US. But along with that comes two other stipulations, which is that it becomes, like, illegal to knowingly hire undocumented migrants for employers, and it also increases border border funding, the border protection funding.
1990: Increased total migrants per year from 300,000 to 700,000; established the diversity visa program.
2002: Department of Homeland Security established, taking over border enforcement.
Higher rates of undocumented migrants due to fewer legal pathways.
Immigration rates are near the highest percentage in US history (14.3% of the population in 2018).

Temporary visas for tourists, business, or short-term education.
Permanent resident visas (green cards) for citizenship.
Categories for entry include:
- Family-based: immediate relatives (no caps), adult children, siblings (longer wait times with caps).
- Employment-based: tiered preferences (multinational executives to high-skilled workers).
- Humanitarian: refugees, asylum seekers, temporary protected status.
- Diversity program: lottery for countries with historically low rates of immigration to The US (annual spots for 55,000).

Processing Backlogs:
* Processing time jumped from four months in 2012 to over a year in 2022.
* 4 million immigration cases are backlogged.
* Outdated technology and infrastructure, mainly using paper forms.
* Shortage of lawyers, court officers, and immigration judges.
Limited legal pathways for migrants.
Overwhelmed asylum system: average wait time of six years for asylum claims.
High costs of immigration enforcement.
Politicization of the issue and inconsistent policies between administrations obstruct forward movement.