Naturalization Of Immigration

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Pages: 7

The United States is seen as the melting pot of the new world due to the fact that everyone living here, minus the exception of native Americans, has migrated here personally or someone in their lineage had. Due to this fact that a good majority has immigrated to this country, there is large push in registered voting Americans to have less regulated borders to allow for easier immigration of migrants. However, the other more conservative portion of the population have a general consensus to strengthen our border security in order to keep out undocumented immigrants for our own protection. Despite what any one specific person’s viewpoint is, the division on the topic of immigration gives a clear subliminal message that reform to some degree …show more content…
The very first stance on immigration in the U. S. was exemplified through the constitution itself in Article 1 Section 8 as, “Congress shall have the power…To establish a uniform rule of naturalization.” This is the most fundamental rule regarding immigration and naturalization because it gave congress, or moreover the legislative body, power to establish and form any such law, or policy that would be in the U.S.’s best interest. With this power, the first major immigration legislation to be formed was the Naturalization Act of 1790, which “allowed an individual to apply for citizenship if they were a free white person, being of good character, and living in the United States for two years” (Englund). This policy and following policy was dominated by racial discrimination as slavery was the prime force of the growing American economy at the time. The Alien and Sedition Acts, placed in effect when John Adams was president, held very strong limitations on who was to become a citizen. This legislation was very unpopular with many migrants as the duration of residence to become a citizen was raised to 14 years, as well as raising the president’s power deport any immigrant who posed to be dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States. This legislation was focused on the national security as the Quasi war and the XYZ affair unfolded with France during this time. Long after this, the first exclusionary immigration policy, known as the Chinese Exclusion Act, was formed in 1882 in response to stop all people of Asian descent from entering the U.S. on the west coast to allow for more opportunity for American citizens. This law was constitutional as the constitution allowed for congress to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, however “the Chinese themselves remained ineligible for citizenship until 1943” despite the ten-year ban ending in 1892(Foner). As the