The fourth wave of immigration

Asians and Hispanics

Legislation

• From the first wave : laws, quotas

• New immigration Act 1965• Removed quotas from various European

countries• Allowed family mbers of US citizens to

emigrate without being counted in the annual total

Impact Ethnic tensions : Chinese residents confined to Chinatowns Japanese residents denied access to property

ownership and education 1930 : Depression Mexican Americans+ Mexican citizens = forcibly

return to Mexico WWII : 2 worst outbreaks of prejudiced

behaviour in CA

• 1- forced relocation + internment of more than 100.000 Japanese people (2/3 were US citizens

• led to psychological and financial hardship• After war : only about 10% of their assets

remained• so had to start all over again

In response to the Army's Exclusion Order No. 20, residents of Japanese ancestry appear at Civil Control Station at 2031 Bush Street, for registration. The evacuees will be housed in War Relocation Authority

centers for the duration. -- Photographer: Lange, Dorothea -- San Francisco, California. 4/25/42 Contributing Institution:

The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley.

• 2- « Zoot-suit riots », 1943• Zoot-suit : gangster style clothes worn by

some young American Mexicans• About 200 Us navy sailors attacked mbers of

Hispanic gangs in east LA• LA PoliceDpt stood by and watched bcse :

Control of rioters = job of shore patrol+ military police

Allegiance and conformity : a must in time of war and social changes

• The zoot suit was one part of the jazz world that visually defied the norms of segregation.

• Unwritten rules demanded that people of color remain unseen and unheard in public spaces, but the zoot suit, with broad shoulders, narrow waist, and ballooned pants, was loud and bold. Zoot-suited young men (and some young women) held themselves upright and walked with a confident swagger that seemed to flow from the very fashion itself

• Many Angelenos objected to the zoot suiters -- including, incidentally, older generations of Mexican Americans, whose communities were traditional, conservative, and self-contained. Critics saw Mexican American youths as cultural rebels and delinquents who openly defied cherished American values and customs

Impact • Formal protest by Mex Gvt• Riots finally ended• Cold War+ Defense-related industries (aircraft, electronics…) = Benefitted

CA economically• But 1960 (~ promise of a better life) =• Alcatraz Island (SF) occupied by military Native Americans Cultural and

economic protest• Cesar Chavez (leader of the United Farm Workers) opposed terrible living

conditions+ exploitation of migrant agricultural workers• « Bracero » = (day laborer) program• Permitted « temporary » work by immigrants from Mexico• Ended 1964• But illegal workers continued to pour across the border.• + public concern focused on young people in barrios deeply involved in gangs

Backlash :Watts Riots 1965, LA

• Violence /poverty/despair in the midst of prosperity and optimism

• Americans were shocked• Incident triggered by a drunk driving arrest• African Americans rioters looted + burned buildings in Watts

( inner-city ghetto)• Watts = pop 10X greater in 1965 than in 1940• Riots : 6 days, • Spread to adjoining areas• National Guard called out to help contain it• 34 people died• 1.000 injured• $40 million worth of property damaged or destroyed

Original caption: "Silhouetted by the cool gush of a broken fire hydrant, a National Guardsman stands ready for further trouble in the strife-torn Watts district of Los Angeles. For six days, the Negro area was filled with violence. To quell the unending rush of frenzied mobs, 10,000 National Guard soldiers were stationed in the area."

Original caption: "A liquor store at the corner of Santa Barbara and Avalon streets in Los Angeles is looted by a group of Negroes, one of whom hurriedly loads his car. The scene is one of many of a similar nature which took place in the riot-plagued Watts district of the city."

Original caption: "Three buildings burn on Avalon Boulevard during the third day of rioting in the Watts section of Los Angeles."

:"Amid the ruins after recent riots in Los Angeles, Tony's shoe shine stand re-opens for business. Tony,

located in one of the hardest-hit areas at 48th and Broadway, is one example of the many small businessmen without a roof to work under."

Resuming tensions

• 1970,1992 = more riots in LA again• 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s = CA experienced

Major changes in three areas:• Economy• Pop patterns• Politics

Economy• Dependent on fed defense spending• Cold War tensions + Us foreign policy changed• sector in recession• Technical and communication skills = more important

for job seekers• Access to good education became crucial• Continuing eco instability gap bw rich and poor • Uneven eco recovery = some sectors and regions remain

depressed.

Population• 1965 = US loosened imm restrictions• New wave of immigration from :• Latin America• Asia• Pacific Islands

• 1970-1983 : + Imm Hisp, Asians, others moved to LA county• CA’s pop grew rapidly• Hisp+ Asians crowded into poorer inner city areas such as Watts where African

Americans were already living• Conflicts bw Chinese(earlier imm) ) and newer arrivals• US Census 2000• 35.3 M Hispanics :~13% of the pop• 35.4 M non hisp black+ African Americans : ~13% of the pop• 11.6 M Asians : ~4% of the pop

• CA Pop• 32.4% Hisp• 6.7%non Hisp black+African Americans• 11.2% Asians• Caucasians• 75.1% of US pop• 59.5% of CA pop• CA has received disproportionately large nber

of 4th wave imm

Why?

• Origins and Diversity of Asian imm• Vietnamese• Cambodian• Chinese• Taiwanese• Korean ( cf listing in source 8)

Legislation

• 1996: Illegal Immigration Reform and immigrant responsibility Act

• New financing for border patrols• Made it easier to deport illegal aliens• 2005 : Legal immigration and family equity

(LIFE)Act• Encourage illegal aliens to obtain visas or be

sponsored for citizenship application

Tensions• 1980’s-1990’s• Certain parts of Ca eco weakened• Racial and ethnic composition of CA pop continued to change• Backlash against newest immigrants• 1992 : LA riots• Acquittal of white police officers who had beaten a black motorist• Riots expanded looting+ burning of stores owned by Asians (esp Koreans) in

neighbourhoods occupied by Afr,Asian and Hispanic Americans• 2 years later : Proposition 187 (CA) approved by voters but did not become a law• Excluded illegal aliens from public schools + non emergency med care• 1998 : CA voted to replace bilingual teaching / English immersion classes for imm

children• But 4th wave imm continued to go to CA despite recent anti-imm backlash in CA

Primary sources • Hispanics : all from Mexico• VALUES and OBSTACLES• Belief in hard work (sources 2,5,7,9)• Importance of education (sources 1,2,3,4,6)• Hardships of poverty (sources 5,7,11)• Family and community ties (sources 2,3,4,6,7,9, even teenage gang mbers12)• Relationships with whites (sources 3,10,11,13))• An ex of success story (source 6)• 3rd wave of imm +her family provided highly respected model for later imm• Relationship bw parents and children• all immigrants are not the same• So urban immigrants have a better chance to start their own small businesss

+ send their children to school than agr workers

Conclusion• 1980’s-1990 = national debate about impact of 4th wave of

immigrants• New imm = a drain to educational institutions + social services +

troubled health care system?• OR• New imm = generate more through taxes they pay?• Some racist gps began to complain about the « Browning » of the USA• Illegal imm• Congress passed 4 major pieces of legislation• 1986 : Imm Reform and Control Act= amnesty + legalisation to ~3

million seasonal agr workers + other workers• 1990 : Immigration Act• Facilitated entrance for highly skilled imm

1980’s Immigration : A hot political issue again

• About 600.000 legal imm (Hispanics +Asians) each year• About 500.000 illegal/undocumented imm/year• Visible presence+poor+culturally and racially different from

dominant Anglo pattern• Noticeable impact on :• Local + state politics• Opinion polls : Americans concerned with :• Crime• Education• Health care• Other social services

Situation Today in California• Most populous state in the US• Kind of « mirror » for what is happening in America• Most ethnically and racially diverse state• Early prosperity :• Due to national ressources : gold , lumber, fish, salt, borax,

range land)• Latter half of 19th C CA = magnet• pop doubled every 20 years until mid 1920’s• 1/3 of increase due to birthrate• Remainder of increase due to imm +imm from states• Ethnic tensions + violence against minority gps = common

Early 20th Century

Growth of new sectors of CA’s eco Birth of Hollywood film industry Dvt of oil industry Establishment of wineries Rise of agribusiness of Central valley Early 20th : also progressive reformers Restrain pol influence of railroads + big business Conserve natural beauty of the state (ex :

Yosemite area)

Recent iIllegal immigration in the US

• The Pew Hispanic Center has developed new estimates for the size and key characteristics of the population of foreign-born persons living in the United States without proper authorization using data from the March 2004 Current Population Survey which is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Labor.

• Major findings include: • Following several years of steady growth, the number of undocumented residents reached an estimated

10.3 million in March 2004 with undocumented Mexicans numbering 5.9 million or 57 percent of the total.

• As of March 2005, the undocumented population has reached nearly 11 million including more than 6 million Mexicans, assuming the same rate of growth as in recent years.

• About 80 to 85 percent of the migration from Mexico in recent years has been undocumented. • Since the mid-1990s, the most rapid growth in the number of undocumented migrants has been in states

that previously had relatively small foreign-born populations. As a result, Arizona and North Carolina are now among the states with the largest numbers of undocumented migrants.

• Although most undocumented migrants are young adults, there is also a sizeable childhood population. About one-sixth of the population--some 1.7 million people-- is under 18 years of the age

Detailed picture of the number and socio-economic status of the nation’s immigrant or foreign-born population, both legal and illegal. The data was

collected by the Census Bureau in March 2007.

• The nation’s immigrant population (legal and illegal) reached a record of 37.9 million in 2007.

• • Immigrants account for one in eight U.S. residents, the highest

level in 80 years. In 1970 it was one in 21; in 1980 it was one in 16; and in 1990 it was one in 13.

•

• Nearly one in three immigrants is an illegal alien. Half of Mexican and Central American immigrants and one-third of South American immigrants are illegal.

•

Social gap• Since 2000, 10.3 million immigrants have arrived — the highest seven-year period of immigration in U.S. history. More than

half of post-2000 arrivals (5.6 million) are estimated to be illegal aliens.

• The largest increases in immigrants were in California, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois, Arizona, Virginia, Maryland, Washington, Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

• Of adult immigrants, 31 percent have not completed high school, compared to 8 percent of natives. Since 2000, immigration increased the number of workers without a high school diploma by 14 percent, and all other workers by 3 percent.

• The share of immigrants and natives who are college graduates is about the same. Immigrants were once much more likely than natives to be college graduates.

• The proportion of immigrant-headed households using at least one major welfare program is 33 percent, compared to 19 percent for native households.

• The poverty rate for immigrants and their U.S.-born children (under 18) is 17 percent, nearly 50 percent higher than the rate for natives and their children.

• 34 percent of immigrants lack health insurance, compared to 13 percent of natives. Immigrants and their U.S.-born children account for 71 percent of the increase in the uninsured since 1989.

•

Progress over time but…• Because of low education level even those who have been here for 20 years

are more likely to be in poverty, lack insurance, or use welfare than are natives.

• • Immigration accounts for virtually all of the national increase in public school

enrollment over the last two decades. In 2007, there were 10.8 million school-age children from immigrant families in the United States.

• Immigrants and natives have similar rates of entrepreneurship — 13 percent of natives and 11 percent of immigrants are self-employed.

•

• Recent immigration has had no significant impact on the nation’s age structure. Without the 10.3 million post-2000 immigrants, the average age in America would be virtually unchanged at 36.5 years.

Obstacles to assimilation and integration

• European and South Asians dispersed need to speak English and become familiar with American culture

• Spanish speaking Latin Americans large and concentrated communities less incentive to speak English. Reduce the need to Americanize.