Daniels Chapter 11

I was shocked to learn that many Jews were not given visa in the majority of cases during World War II. Many of these Jews were losing their lives to the Holocaust occurring in Nazi Germany, yet the United States was doing little to grant visas or even refugee status to the average Jewish person. In fact, it was difficult for many Jewish refugees to be accepted to the United States because of State Department often made it difficult for them to come over. Daniels writes, “The State Department, however, and especially Avra M. Warren, head of its Visa Division, continually raised—one is tempted to say ‘invented’ – difficulties” (298). It’s alarming to me that someone in the State Department would go out of their way to limit the number of Jewish immigrants coming in when their lives were threatened in their home country. However, in the case of those Jewish intellect and individuals that the Hebrew Union College (HUC) in Cincinnati wanted to bring to the United States, the individuals coming from Nazi Germany and war-torn Europe had little problem coming over. Individuals such as Albert Einstein and Thomas Mann hardly experienced problems when trying to I never really thought of such important individuals avoided being taken into the Nazi concentration camps and instead taken to the United States.

It really struck me when I read how the quota for Germany that was set was never actually met during the war years. Yet, there were numerous cases of Jews from Germany being denied acceptance to the United States. Daniels shares, “For the years 1933-40 there were 211,895 German quota spaces. Only 100,987 were actually used” (300). Why was this the case? It struck me when I learned that most people were rejected because of a concern over German spies would come into the U.S. unnoticed along with the rest of the immigrants. In this way, more Germans were restricted from coming in because of potential spies.

In a much different way, most Asian Americans and Asian immigrants also suffered because of the war. Many of the Japanese were interned in concentration camps throughout the United States because the government felt that they could be sabotages and could report back to their Japanese enemy. The government felt as though even though many Japanese were Americans, they still felt deeply committed to their home country. I also found it interesting that the Japanese originally the “gentlemen’s agreement” with the United States allowing a select group of Japanese to come into the United States in earlier periods. Ironically enough, the Chinese who were barred from becoming citizens before the war were able to become citizens. Because the Chinese were on the American side, the U.S. government decided to repeal the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and allowed the Chinese to become citizens. Daniels shares, “During the eight years 1945-52, when there were a total of 840 Chinese quota slots, just over 11,000 Chinese actually emigrated to the United States” (304). Of these Chinese that were coming, many of them came under the 1946 Act that allowed Chinese wives of American citizens to be admitted to the United States without being part of the quota. One of the main goals of this period of immigration was the emphasis on family reunification.

Daniels- Ch 10. "The Triumph of Nativism"

Coming to America- Ch. 10 “The Triumph of Nativism”

                After reading this chapter, I was shocked to learn of all the restrictions that were placed on immigration and how most of their effects were minimum (with the exception of the Chinese Exclusion Act). One of the things that stood out to me the most is that there were 7 factors said to have limited immigration by 1917. Daniels writes, “Admission was denied to Asians (except for Japanese and Filipinos, the latter because they were held to be American nationals); criminals; persons who failed to meet certain moral standards; persons with various diseases; paupers; assorted radicals; and illiterates” (279). Of these 7 imposing factors, the fact that they would restrict people who were to be idiots and insane people bothered me the most. Of the small percentage of people who were deported back home, many of them were deported back for mental reasons and diseases. One man who worked as an interpreter on Ellis Island revealed that the majority of people who were deported for “mental diseases” were unjustly sent back. In most of these cases, it was because the immigrant had norms that the doctor was unfamiliar with or the immigrant was ignorant.  For these reasons, it seems as though the doctors were unaware of what to look for when it came to “mental diseases” and were ignorant of other cultures. Even then, I feel as though was wrong to keep people out of the country because they suffered a mental disease—I can understand a little more why they would want to keep someone out with a contagious disease. For those individuals who were deported back, they were often left with the no place to go when they were sent back and a family member would often have to go back with them. Also, many people were sent back for diseases such as trachoma that many were not even aware that they had—many of them being children. Not knowing what trachoma is, I was compelled to look up what the disease was and why these people were kept out of the country. Turns out, it’s a contagious, chronic eye disease that is known to be a major cause of blindness. Still, I doubt that many of these immigrants actually had it. Yet again, it was probably another excuse to keep people out.

                In my own understanding, I have always thought the biggest factor in keeping people out was the literacy test that was a requirement to have people become citizens. Yet, it turns out that it took almost two decades to pass the literacy test which was passed in 1917. This law originally only applied to adult males. I found it interesting that from July 1920 to June 1921, 800,000 immigrants entered the country and only 13,799 people were denied—of those 13,799 people only 1,4500 people were deported because they failed the literacy test. It’s shocking to me how little impact this test had on barring immigration. However, the education in Europe became better at this time so that was probably a major factor in the little impact.

                Of the many factors that restricted immigration, it is interest that there was very little impact from the majority of them. This was the case because many of the passenger ships checked their passengers for diseases and such before they ever came. This occurred because the passenger ships had to pay for anyone who was to be deported back to their homeland. In addition, many individuals who believed they would not be admitted to the United States would decide not to come in the first place and waste money on a ticket when they would only be sent back. In this way, immigration restrictions really did keep immigrants from coming to this country—but more so in a way that they just never made the journey.