The Importance Of Immigration To The United States

This book would be more easily reviewed when separated by chapters, as each chapter focused on a specific aspect of Third World immigration. The introduction and first chaper discussed briefly immigration prior to World War II and then how immigration shifted post-war. Prior to World War II, there were few immigrants from Third World countries. Third World immigrants then mainly came from China and Japan and not until the mid-19th century. At that time, the U.S welcomed the immigrant labour (as Chinese worked on the rail road and in gold mines), but barred social contact with them. Americans were then particularly hostile to the Chinese, with hostility ranging from anti-Chinese policies such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 , which was

the first and only policy that barred a specific nationality, to violence. Though China was not the only Asian country to be discriminated against, anti-Japan sentiment was also present, by restrictive laws being passed such as not allowing the Japanese to own land.
Although prior to World War II, China and Japan made up a solid amount of Third World immigrants, Mexico has had a long history with the U.S as well. Mexican labor had always been favored due to how cheap they were compared to native born laborers and how generally "docile" and "uninterested in labor unions" the Mexican workers were. During World War II, there was significant dislike of Third World minorities, especially after the Pearl Harbor bombing where 110,000 Japanese- Americans were interned. Mexicans-Americans were also targeted during the early years of the war, with the Zoot Suit riots in Los Angeles. At the same time, however, the U.S was open to Third World immigration. With World War II, labor shortages encouraged minorities to work positions that otherwise they would not be given. Especially with the Chinese, who found work in shipyards and other defense industries. With this, policy towards Asia started to change with the Chinese Exclusion Act being repealed in 1943 and making Chinese Immigrants available for naturalization. Although during this time, the Oriental Exclusion Act barred all Asians from citizenship, by 1948 talks began about changing that, with anti-Japanese-Americans feeling waning due to their 'outstanding war record'.
Post-World War II, though not significantly, Americans started to become more tolerant and more open to immigration reform. Of course, the author noted that there was a correlation between immigration liberalization and economy, noting that during the Great Depression there was no progression in policies regarding refugees. However, regarding refugees, the focus was still more on Europe than on Third World countries. The Displaced Persons Act was passed in 1948 with the thought of Europeans in mind, but opposition feared that giving special consideration to Europeans (since the Act admitted immigrants outside of the annual quota), what stopped it from including the Chinese or the Pakistanis? However by 1953 the refugee act included several thousand Asians from the Far and Near East and later in 1957 specifically allowed Chinese refugees. The author stated that since the war, Asian newcomers found increasing acceptance in the United States.
As stated earlier, Mexicans have always made up a significant number of U.S immigrant and post-World War II U.S was no different. Mexicans also had a specific pattern, with the majority of immigrants being unskilled single males. Chapter two specifically addressed Mexicans with the bracero program and Operation Wetback. The demand for farm labor encouraged temporary workers from Mexico to come to the U.S, and greatly benefited big growers who could set the wages as low as they wanted. The conditions under which the bracero's lived in in the U.S were poor, with housing and sanitation being inadequate at best. However poorly they were being treated in the U.S, workers had a better economic chance in the States than in Mexico.
The number of undocumented immigrants also grew in the U.S, mainly due to the fact that poorer Mexicans were unable to satisfy the immigration requirements, and eventually the number of undocumented aliens actually exceeded the number of bracero's in the U.S. This "wetback" problem led to the apprehension of many undocumented immigrants, with 1,075,168 Mexicans being apprehended in 1954, a significant increase from the 385,215 apprehended only four years earlier. As desperate as Mexican workers were for work, so were the growers for cheap labor who insisted that native Americans did not want to work for them and depended on the bracero's and undocumented immigrants for help.
Though in class it had been discussed that the pull is more significant than the push, it varied here with post-World War II immigration. Although the Chinese and Japanese (stated specifically since they were the largest group of Asian immigrants) came to the U.S due to the pull of better economic opportunity, it differed with Mexicans. The author cited lack of opportunity and great poverty as reasons for Mexican immigration. It could be argued that the push was stronger than the pull for Mexicans, due to the desperate need for work, and that the U.S was conveniently bordering them and had better opportunities. Unlike the Asians who had a greater distance to travel and/or could of emigrated to a different country.
The later chapters deal with immigration post-1965 and with a more diverse group of Third World Immigrants. The Immigration Act of 1965 abolished the Asia-Pacific Triangle and got rid of national origins quotes. Instead, the trend went towards reuniting families with their members in the U.S. In fact, as currently the topic of chain migration is frequent when discussing immigration today, the author noted it as being a significant trend post-1965. Chain migration was credited with increasing Asian immigration, because as a nonimmigrant came to the U.S to work/study, they later became citizens and slowly start bringing over immediate family, who in turn became citizens themselves and brought other family members to the U.S.
An interesting point made by the author was how modern communication and technology really encouraged immigration to the U.S.

Railroads, steamship lines, and later planes were attributed to providing information to Europeans about America. Additionally, American occupation was also credited, with Koreans becoming more aware of American culture during the Korean War. Media played a large part as well, with American TV shows and consumer goods becoming bountiful in Asia and Latin America. Not only were the impressions of American attractive, but the travel was relatively inexpensive. Excluding refugees, which will be discussed next, this showed an obvious pull factor for immigration. American goods reflected the American life that so many immigrants desired, and modern transportation made it easier to

travel.
As mentioned earlier, there were previous acts passed to assist refugees but these were mainly directed at European migrants.

This changed after 1960 and the U.S saw great number of Cubans and Vietnamese come to the U.S. as refugees as refugee problems in Europe significantly decreased. It began with Cuba when Fidel Castro took power in 1959 and great waves of Cuban immigrants came to the U.S. The numbers were so great that by 1962, approximately 3,000 Cubans were arriving weekly. Additionally, the U.S policies towards immigration shifted to anti-communism. As it was America's intention to wipe out communism in foreign countries, it became important to assist refugees trying to escape it. Although considered Third World, Cuban refugees included a large number of people that had high levels of education, income, and occupation (and also, as the author stated, disproportionately white). Although the 800,000 Cubans were the largest single nationality post- World War II Third World refugees, they were closely followed by the 700,000 Indochinese arriving in the mid 1970's and 1980's. The U.S was obviously deeply involved in the Vietnam War and although initially the U.S was not prepared to accept them as refugees, this quickly changed. Initially the change was mainly for Vietnamese orphans and was supported by the majority of Americans. The feeling towards the Indochinese in general was not as impressive, with only 36 percent of Americans favoring the idea of their

resettlement in the U.S. This group of immigrants proved to be more difficult from previous groups. Similarly to the pre-World War II wave of Chinese and Japanese immigrants, Vietnamese immigrants had a hard time adapting to life in the U.S. A high number of refugees had little to no education and few skills. Unlike Mexican immigration trends that involved chain migration, the Vietnamese had fewer family connection and less knowledge about American society (an interesting bit about the book talked about Vietnamese refugees having to be persuaded not to hunt pigeons with their crossbows). Though previous groups such as the Cubans and Mexicans had and thrived in their own communities in Miami and Los Angeles, for example, the Vietnamese lacked this and were highly dependent on the government for help, which caused resentment from Americans. Another group of refugees mentioned were the Haitians. Although not fleeing Communism, Haitians lived in political turmoil under a hostile government and dictator. Haitians had a harder time gaining access into the U.S initially, since they were not considered to be the right type of refugees according to immigration policies. When discussing the push and pull factor, it would be argued that in the case of most refugees it was the push factor that was stronger. With the example of Cuba, the author stated that many refugees were not from the lower class and many had a good income, so the pull of better economic opportunity was not a factor here. For most Vietnamese, Haitian, and Cuban refugees, the push of political regimes brought them to the U.S. In fact, many from Cuba were exiled, literally pushed out of Cuba.
In class we have mainly talked about immigration pre-World War II and this book was great with tying in what we have learned in class previously to the information in this book. As this book started with discussing Chinese and Japanese immigration, it was a good transition from class discussions. A large chunk of the book discussed Mexican immigration, and although that it also very important, it was more interesting to read about the Caribbean and Indochinese immigration and how, in their case, the move was more for political reasons than economic. It was also enjoyable to read about how modern technology exposed the world to the 'luxurious' life in the U.S. and how shows like 'I love Lucy' encouraged people to try out life in the U.S.
In terms of concluding this report, in general this book would be recommended as a good read, however there are a few critiques. This book is pretty dry and if a reader is not into history this book as a whole will probably be of little interest. However, this book would make a good textbook for class, as each chapter discusses a different aspect of Third World immigration and in chunks makes an interesting read but as a whole is a bit difficult to get through. There is a lot of information in this book pertaining to where various immigrant groups lived and how they settled in the U.S. Though trends and patterns are discussed in the book, the focus is more on numbers and how the immigrants settled once they arrived in the U.S. Overall, a very informative read and a lot was learned about Third World immigration from it.