Explore At America's Gates: Chinese Immigration During The Exclusion Era, 1882-1943 Scripted By Erika Lee Classified In Readable Copy

carries her argument a bit far, as the Chinese were one of a number of causes of the growth of immigration growth in the United States.
Overall, she does a very good job of laying out the genesis, growth, and consequences of exclusion, I hoped for a bit more discussion of how the Chinese communities evolved under exclusion, though I take her argument that that has been studied.
The history of Chinese exclusion and the taint it cast upon the community bears consideration in our present climate, Looking exclusively at Chinese immigration and Chinese exclusion, Lee explores the history of American immigration, linking the gradual rise in nativist exclusion and the attempts to restrict immigration to the Chinese Exclusion Act of.
Beautifully written and supported by an amazing amount of primary sources, Lee's book offers a compelling and informative look into Chinese immigration, detailing the effect that exclusion had on migrants, citizens, and exploring the various attempts to enter the country illegally throughout the lateth and earlyth century.
In addition to recounting the history of Chinese Americans, Lee ties the immigrant restriction of thes to modern attempts to deal with illegals from Mexico.
The same tactics and agencies patrolling the Mexican borders today are the direct legacy of Chinese exclusion, Fantastically written Lee's book is a must read for anyone interested in immigration history, A great look into how the Chinese were viewed and treated in theth ampth Centuries, Well worth the read. A very through look into Chinese immigration during the Exclusion period and how antiChinese legislation set the blueprints for future immigration law.
This is an academic book, though, with copious citations and reads dry for a layperson I suggest Dr, Lee's more recent sitelinkThe Making of Asian America: A History for similar history but across a wider span of time and broader populations.


This was published in, though, so parallels to antibrown people sentiment post/are only addressed in the epilogue, The cyclical nature of history is very apparent throughout the rest of the book, though, so if anyone's been following thetravel ban attempts I do wonder what thest century equivalent of a paper son will be as of July, the SC added having a 'bonafide relationship' to a family member as a requirement to avoid the ban which is eerily similar to the family tie loophole during exclusion.


Might post more comprehensive review later, A fabulously interesting read! Taught me incredible things about the Chinese Exclusion Act I had never known,
My only comment is I wish there could have been a bit more analysis about how white Americans came to accept/embrace it and to allow for gatekeeping legislation to become the norm rather than just its effects on future pieces of legislative bans on the basis of race, gender, working group, etc.
In Erika Lees At Americas Gates: Chinese Immigration during the Exclusion Era,, the author articulates how the image of the United States of America transitioned from an egalitarian “nation of immigrants” to an exclusionary “gatekeeping nation” evidenced by the Chinese Exclusion Act of.
She further demonstrates this transformation with accounts from her personal family history relating how several of her ancestors from China entered the United States to work in preexclusionary and exclusionary eras.
Her maternal greatgreatgreatgrandfather May Dong Kee arrived in California without any circumstance as a farmer inalong with many other Chinese immigrants seeking their fortunes in the Gum Saan, or “Gold Mountain”their term for the USA.
By comparison, during the era of exclusion over a half century later in, Lees grandfather, Lee Chi Yet, submitted to a strip search and aweek investigation at Angel Island in San Francisco in order to enter America as a Chineseborn immigrant.
He did so as a “paper son” meaning that he had to assume a new falsified name and pose as the son of a merchant in order to enter the nation that would have refused his entry had they known his true identity as a farmer or imprisoned and deported him had they discovered his deception.
This juxtaposition begins Lees investigation of how the Chinese exclusion laws affected the Chinese population in America and how the laws transformed Americas national identity, demographic makeup, and image as nation of certain immigrants.


Following her concise introduction, Lee organizes her book into four parts with two chapters to each part and an afterword that addresses the legacy of the Chinese Exclusion Act ofin relation to the Septemberterrorist attacks in.
In “Part I. Closing the Gates,” Lee chronicles the California origins of federal immigration regulation as well as the history of the law officials and agencies tasked with the enforcement of excluding and admitting Chinese immigrants and travelers into and out of America.
Using government records as primary sources that were only made available to the public in the earlys, Lee moves on to “Part II.
At Americas Gates,” which traces the relationship between defining Chinese identity and American identity at the immigration offices on Angel Islandthe socalled “Ellis Island of the West”in San Francisco.
“Part III. Cracks in the Gate,” chronicles the growth of illegal immigration and reveals the governments futile task of policing its extensive borders, “Part IV. The Consequences and Legacies of Exclusion,” includes a discussion of the shift from border patrol to harassing Chinese American citizens and immigrants alike in the interior cities of America as well as an Epilogue devoted to the postexclusionary eras legacy in late twentieth century immigration policies.
Whereas other scholarly studies of the Chinese Exclusion Act oftend to focus on the legal and transnational aspects it precipitated, Lee identifies her studys novel combination of local, national, and transnational frameworks as well as perspectives from both Chinese immigrants and U.
S. immigration officials. Overall, although Lees thesis statements tend to be repeated a bit excessivelyin the main introduction, in the section introductions, in the chapter introductions, throughout the chapters, and in the chapter conclusionsLee articulates, supports, and proves these points in a persuasive and impressive fashion.


Chapter“The Chinese Are Coming, How Can We Stop Them Chinese Exclusion and the Origins of American Gatekeeping” recalibrates the common origins story of immigration reform during theswhen the federal government introduced quota systemsback to thes when California politicians and labor unions lobbied for the exclusion of Chinese immigrants from America.
American politics, race, class, and gender relations, national identity, and the role of the federal government in controlling immigration, " Beginning with “a western American desire to sustain white supremacy in a multiracial West, gatekeeping became a national reality and was extended to other immigrant groups” such as other Asians, Mexicans, and certain Europeans who were continually portrayed by Nativists to be “just like” the Chinese.
During the Chinese exclusionary era, the federal government developed a thorough system of “immigration inspections, passport and other documentary requirements, . . surveillance and criminalization of immigration, and the deportation of immigrants” that it used to regulate immigration from a variety of nations by thes.


In Chapter“The Keepers of the Gate: U, S. Immigration Officials and Chinese Exclusion,” Lee introduces the federal immigration agents along with their diverse perspectives and policies for excluding Chinese immigrants.
On one extreme end, John H, Wise, U. S. collector of customs at the port of San Francisco fromto, strove for the exclusion and deportation of all Chinese but only succeeded in making “it much more difficult for all exemptclass Chinese, including nativeborn American citizens, from gaining admission or readmission into the country.
” By comparison, Oscar S. Straus, the Secretary of Labor appointed inby President Roosevelt sympathized with Chinese immigrants and inverted the original philosophy of the immigration regulation by making admission the rule and exclusion the exception.
These examples along with others in between construct a more nuanced, complex picture of how exclusionary immigration policies developed, Overall, Washington D. C. followed the San Francisco model as its role in enforcement of immigration law developed from ad hoc beginnings to a more defined bureaucracy.
From, “the immigration service locally and nationally had been transformed from a corps of untrained Chinese inspectors under the Customs Services jurisdiction to a centralized and highly bureaucratic agency under the Department of Commerce and Labor.
” Starting off with a strong commitment to exclude as many Chinese immigrants as possible, there was an attempt at federal reform for a more fair treatment during the early twentieth century but Nativist rhetoric and political pressure reinvigorated the federal governments commitment to severely limiting Chinese immigration.


Chapter“Exclusion Acts: Race, Class, Gender, and Citizenship in the Enforcement of the Exclusion Laws” transitions to a consideration of how exclusion enforcement shaped Chinese American as well as American identity.
As the government developed a system of personal scrutiny of legal definitions of what it meant to be “Chinese,” a “merchant,” a “prostitute,” and a “citizen,” their actions had the dual effect of shaping the identities of Chinese Americans and the nations ideals of race, class, gender, and citizenship.
While immigration officers institutionalized popular beliefs and stereotypes of Chinese men as cunning deceivers and women as loathsome prostitutes, the judicial branch of the federal government restored some rights to Chinese Americans through hardfought court rulings.
In one instance, it took a U, S. Supreme Court ruling inthat guaranteed birthright citizenship as promised in the Fourteenth Amendment to readmit an Americanborn son of two noncitizen Chinese parents.
As revealed in this example, the exclusion laws affected and interfered in the lives of Chinese Americans in addition to Chinese immigrants.
In this chapter, Lee begins to include thorough tables totaling the statistics for how many Chinese men, women, and citizens were admitted to America in certain years according to government records.


In Chapter“One Hundred Kinds of Oppressive Laws: The Chinese Response to American Exclusion,” Lee identifies changing patterns and strategies of resistance “to explain why Chinese continued to come to the United States and how they managed to get in while the exclusion laws were in effect.
” Betweenand, “by constantly adapting their migration patterns to fit the shifting terrain of the exclusion laws” an estimated,Chinese “successfully gained admission into the United States for the first time or as returning residents and nativeborn citizens.
” In addition to the transnational migrants moving between the two countries, many men continued to leave the depressed economy of China for the promise of work and pay in America.
Operating within transnational migration patterns and relying upon wellorganized networks of family, white allies, and lawyers, the Chinese populations on both sides of the Pacific “remained consistent and vocal critics of the exclusion policy during the sixtyone years that it was in effect” and demonstrated “an adept understanding of the American judicial system” to resourcefully work within the system to gain national entrance.
However, as the means to completely dismantle the system were limited and working within the system took an unacceptable amount of time, many Chinese Americans and immigrants learned how to negotiate their way around the exclusion laws as the next two chapters explore in greater detail.


Chapter“Enforcing the Borders: Chinese Exclusion along the U, S. Canadian and the U. S. Mexican Borders” reveals the similarities and differences between the experiments in American border diplomacy and border enforcement along the northern and southern border regions between.
During this time period, an estimated,Chinese immigrants entered the United States “illegally” from the nations of Canada and Mexico, Whereas the U. S. efforts to prevent these movements centered on border diplomacy with Canada due to a shared white European heritage, a system of surveillance and deportation developed along the Mexican border where racial bonds were absent.
In both the north and the south, however, border crossing associated with illegal immigration
became a lucrative “international and interracial business” as Chinese, Canadian, Mexican, and American guides cooperated with each other for mutual gain.
Lee includes a photograph of “Chinese Posing as Mexicans,” fromto demonstrate a common strategy used by Chinese immigrants to enter the U.
S. from the southern border. In response to these acts of defiance, “a new imperialist assertion of American sovereignty in the form of border controls” effectively closed both the northern and southern borders by thes.


In Chapter“The Crooked Path: Chinese Illegal Immigration and Its Consequences,” Lee examines how the legislative attempt to exclude Chinese “did not end Chinese immigration it merely forced it underground and supported a transnational business of illegal immigration that corrupted both the Chinese community in America and the American government itself.
” Shifting from the border crossings to the nations ports, this system of illegal immigration involved “false immigration papers, . . corrupt immigration officials, and lies, evasion, and bribes” to aid Chinese entry to America, In response to the embarrassment of illegal immigration, the federal government justified further intensification of the screening process which resulted in a perpetual cycle of injustice yielding arbitrary results in which some legal immigrants were “unfairly excluded from the United States, while others gained admission through fraud and evasion.
” Throughout the various iterations of this illogical cycle of making legal immigration more difficult and illegal immigration more appealing, both certain members of the American customs officials and the Chinese American community were corrupted as bribes appeared to be more efficient and logical alternatives to the inherently flawed system.


Chapter“In the Shadow of Exclusion: The Impact of Exclusion on the Chinese in America” examines how American gatekeeping in the early twentieth century extended beyond the nations borders and into the interiors, “leading to an increase in the states role in “disciplining” Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans through the establishment of a system of arrest and deportation.
” These racist and antiimmigrant policies came to be enforced in Chinese homes,places of business, and communities such that even Chinese Americans lived in a shadow of fear that resulted in their segregation, marginalization, and return migration during the exclusion era and even decades beyond its end in.


In the Epilogue: “Echoes of Exclusion in the Late Twentieth Century,” Lee briefly chronicles the postexclusion eras immigration reform emphasizing the exclusion eras legacy of perpetual tension between Americas ideal as “a nation of immigrants” and its reality as “a gatekeeping nation” particularly with respect to “the governments recent efforts to control both the U.
S. Mexican border and Mexican immigrants, ” As a final thought in the Afterword: “Following September,,” Lee identifies the

familiar catchphrases of “containment and protection” to justify “blanket racialized associations of Arabs and Muslims” with terrorists implying that the shadow of the Chinese Exclusion Act has reached into the twentyfirst century.
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