History of Chinese Exclusion

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 remains one of the great stains in this Nation’s history. Individuals of Chinese descent who lived in America helped build this country, both literally when speaking of the Transcontinental Railroad, and figuratively when looking at their contributions to helping grow this Nation’s economy as integral members of the agricultural, mining, manufacturing, construction, fishing, and canning industries. And yet, from the middle of the 19th century through the early 20th century, Chinese immigrants were ostracized and met with violent assaults based on their race. 

Moreover, Chinese immigrants faced a litany of discriminatory actions by the U.S. government that culminated in the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.  The Act prohibited skilled and unskilled Chinese laborers from entering the United States for 10 years, was the first Federal law that excluded a single group of people on the basis of race, and required certain Chinese laborers already legally present in the United States who later wished to reenter the United States to obtain “certificates of return”, an unprecedented requirement that applied only to Chinese residents. The Act also explicitly prohibited all State and Federal courts from naturalizing Chinese persons. 

If that was not enough, the Act also underscored the belief that Chinese people were unfit to be naturalized and, in the House Committee Report accompanying that Act, stated that the Chinese came to the United States “without the intention to make it their permanent residence” and “that they retain their distinctive peculiarities and characteristics, refusing to assimilate themselves to our institutions, and remaining a separate and distinct class, intrenched [sic] behind immovable prejudices; that their ignorance or disregard of sanitary laws, as evidenced in their habits of life, breeds disease, pestilence, and death; that their claim of superiority as to religion and civilization, destroys all hope of their improvement from contact with our institutions”.

In 1943, at the urging of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and over 60 years after the enactment of the first discriminatory laws aimed at Chinese immigrants, Congress repealed previously enacted anti-Chinese legislation and permitted Chinese immigrants to become United States citizens. It was not until the Immigration Act of 1965, however, which changed the decades old immigration quota system to one that favored family reunification that the doors for immigration from Asia, Africa and Latin America were truly opened.

In 2012, under the leadership of Congresswoman Judy Chu, the House of Representative passed a resolution expressing regret for the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Modern Day Chinese Exclusion Act

On May 27, 2020, Senators Tom Cotton and Martha Blackburn and Representative David Kustoff introduced the SECURE CAMPUS Act, which would restrict Chinese STEM Student Visas. Under the guise of protecting US interests, this legislation is nothing more than a modern day Chinese Exclusion Act that reminds Asian Americans of the painful history against Chinese immigrants.