22. Teaching American immigration laws throughout history
American immigration laws, at the federal level, did not exist prior to 1882, when Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. Since then, American immigration laws have been passed and overturned, in response to numerous changes in population. Immigration remains a major topic of discussion and debate in the United States, and the study of immigration laws is best left to more mature students. They find a frequently dark chapter in American history, including the Mexican Repatriation in 1932, the “Gentlemen’s Agreement with Japan in 1907, and other laws passed which discriminated against certain ethnic groups.
Numerous websites exist which offer the history of American Immigration Laws, many of them maintained by law firms specializing in the practice. The history of immigration laws is also well represented in newspaper and magazine archives. Younger students should learn about immigration as it reflects their own ancestors, as part of learning their own history, but the study of generalized immigration and the federal government’s (and some states’) responses to restrict certain ethnicities is beyond their understanding. The study raises racial, ethnic, and religious prejudices which have been a focus in American law for a century and a half, and continue full force today.
