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CONCEPTImmigration is a significant demographic, social, and cultural part of U.S. history, and over time, public attitudes and policies that shape immigration have changed.

OBJECTIVESStudents will be able to:

• Compare and contrast the push/pull factors in three people’s stories of immigrating to the U.S.

• Identify major immigration policies throughout U.S. history.

• Draw evidence from informational texts and graphs to analyze and reflect on historical and contemporary events related to immigration.

SUBJECTSSocial Studies, Civics, Geography, U.S. History (General & AP), Government, English Language Arts

SKILLSCritical thinking, inductive reasoning, problem solving, reading comprehension, identifying trends, interpreting line graphs

METHODStudents listen to and reflect on recordings of immigrant interviews and then read and analyze a text about immigration history in the U.S.

INTRODUCTIONImmigration is a significant part of the United States’ demographic history and has played a major role in the U.S. population reaching 330 million people. Since the founding of the United States, the country has been a beacon to people from across the globe looking for opportunities for themselves and their families. While most people might prefer to stay in their homeland, they often feel compelled to leave in search of a better quality of life somewhere else, or are forced to flee their home due to fear of violence or persecution if they stay.

Even though the U.S. has long been considered a "nation of immigrants,” our history around acceptance of and public policy toward new groups of immigrants has been complicated. Immigration policy has favored some groups over others, and the debate around these policies often focuses on national values, especially as they relate to compassion, diversity, and meeting the needs of a changing economy.

MATERIALSPart 1• Internet access

Part 2• Student Reading: “Coming to America” (provided)• Student Worksheet

PART 1: IMMIGRANT VOICES PROCEDURE1. Play the three short videos below of interviews with

immigrants from different countries and backgrounds. As students watch, they should note the similarities and differences among the experiences and sentiments of the three people. This could include reasons people left their previous country, challenges they faced, and their goals.

• “Abdullahi’s Journey: From Refugee Camp to College Campus” – A college student who was born in a refugee camp in Kenya and resettled in the U.S., and is determined to achieve his goals. Video by KQED. (4 minutes)

NATION OF IMMIGRANTS

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• “Meet Paloma” – A DACA student from Mexico who came to the U.S. when she was 11 months old and sees herself as a citizen of the U.S. “culturally and socially, but just not on paper.” Video by the Community Faces project at the Interdistrict School for Arts and Communication. (2.5 minutes)

• “Meet Darek” – An immigrant from formerly-communist Poland who left to seek greater freedom in the U.S. Video by the Community Faces project at the Interdistrict School for Arts and Communication. (2.5 minutes)

2. Discuss the similarities and differences among the three peoples’ experiences and thoughts as they left their homeland and moved to the United States.

3. If they're comfortable sharing, ask who in the class has moved from another country or state and why.

4. Ask students to think about their ancestors. Are they Native people to this land, or did they come from somewhere else? If they came from somewhere else, did they come here by choice? If they migrated by choice, what were their reasons for migrating?

PART 2: COMING TO AMERICA If your students do not have experience discussing potentially controversial topics, this Tough Topic Facilitation Guide provides a short class exercise on respectful dialog and helpful tips for creating student-driven discussion guidelines.

PROCEDURE1. Assess students’ current knowledge and assumptions about immigration using this 9-question Immigration Quiz

from PBS. Students can complete the quiz individually if one-to-one technology is available, or as a class, with students taking turns reading the projected questions aloud. After completing the quiz, ask the class what, if anything, they found surprising.

2. Distribute the Student Worksheet and the Student Reading “Coming to America” to each student.

3. Allow students time to read “Coming to America” and answer the questions on the Worksheet.

Answers to Student Worksheet See Answer Key

ASSESSMENTRe-read the poem by Emma Lazarus at the top of “Coming to America" and then respond to the following prompt:

Do you believe the U.S. has successfully upheld these values? Give examples of when it has and when it has not.

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FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITYStudents can engage with the online role-play simulation The Immigrant Experience from Experience Magazine at Northwestern University.

This digital simulation game follows eight immigrants from different time periods and countries. Students choose an individual’s role to take on, and follow on-screen prompts to make important choices as they pursue their goals. While the characters in the simulation are fictional, they are based on documented experiences. There are three possible outcomes for each character.

As students make each choice, ask them to write down their reasoning. When they finish the simulation, ask them to note the outcome and summarize it, along with any laws or immigration policies that affected their character. They can also discuss or write what they thought were the most difficult choices they had to make and why they were difficult.

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NATION OF IMMIGRANTSSTUDENT READING: COMING TO AMERICA

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,With conquering limbs astride from land to land;Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flameIs the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-handGlows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries sheWith silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

–“The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, 1883

The poet Emma Lazarus, wrote the above words in 1883. They were later inscribed on a plaque hanging inside the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, a landmark greeting millions of immigrants from Europe who landed at Ellis Island in New York Harbor from 1892 to 1954. Immigration is a significant part of the United States’ demographic history and has played a major role in the U.S. population reaching 330 million people. Since the founding of the U.S., the country has been a beacon to people from across the globe looking for opportunities for themselves and their families. However, it has struggled continuously as a society to embrace new groups of foreigners, and the debates on how waves of immigrants shape U.S. culture and the economy (for better or worse) have been waged since the early days of the nation.

The Early Years of the U.S.Native Americans remain and have always been the original people of this land, their communities having lived here for thousands of years before waves of immigrants arrived from the British Isles and other areas of northwestern Europe. The U.S. Constitution says little about immigration and citizenship other than to make these issues the responsibility of the Congress. Congress approves the Naturalization Act of 1790, which only allows “free white person[s]” to become naturalized citizens after living in the U.S. for a period of two years.

Anticipating war with France, Congress passes the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798, which target French immigrants and sympathizers. It restricts immigrant free speech and writing, raises the minimum waiting time of naturalization to 14 years, and gives the president power to imprison and deport any immigrant considered dangerous.

Wars in Europe and the U.S. slow immigration during the late 1700s and early 1800s. Newcomers include Irish people fleeing English rule and people from France escaping revolution. Before 1820, the United States does not count how many newcomers reach its shores by ship.

Congress outlaws the importation of slaves in 1808. By this time, about 600,000 Africans have been forcibly transported to the U.S. and enslaved. By 1810, there are more than 1.1 million enslaved Africans and their descendants in the U.S.

Source: Library of Congress

A Dutch immigrant family at Ellis Island in New York City, 1915.

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1840sA surging population in Europe and a potato blight (and resulting famine) in Ireland fuel immigration to the United States. The U.S. expansion in both size and industrialization in the 1800s creates jobs for new immigrants in factories, farming, shipping, and railroad building.

Immigrants from Ireland and Germany are the first Roman Catholics to arrive in large numbers in what is a predominantly Protestant nation, and they are met with a good deal of discrimination for their beliefs and lifestyles. The first organized opposition to open immigration emerges in the 1840s with the creation of the American Party (also known as the “Know-Nothing Party” for the secretiveness of its members). They claim that Irish and German immigrants threaten to corrupt the country’s heritage, and they succeed in fueling anti-immigration sentiment for the next several decades.

Spurred by the Gold Rush in California and a major crop failure in China, Chinese immigrants, mainly men, come to the U.S. to work in the mining, construction, and agricultural industries. Chinese immigrants contribute greatly to the building of U.S. railroads during this time.

1880 – 1920Large waves of immigrants arrive from Southern and Eastern Europe, filling the need for unskilled labor in the industrialized cities of the Northeast and Midwest. By 1900, 80 percent of New Yorkers are either born abroad or are the children of immigrants.

Meanwhile, in the western parts of the U.S., most immigrants are from China and earn low wages working in railroad construction and agriculture. They must balance sending much-needed money home with repaying their loans to the merchants who brought them to the U.S. Tensions grow as the economy struggles in the 1870s, and labor groups, like the Workingmen’s Party of California, rise to political power in California by rallying public fears that big corporations, along with Chinese immigrants, drive wages down and increase job competition. The party’s populist platform incites violence against Chinese people in California, with rioters killing several Chinese people and destroying many of their shops during a multi-night rampage in San Francisco. Anti-Chinese immigrant political cartoons at this time aim to shape public attitudes. This backlash against Chinese immigrants reflects the sentiments that lead to the next major immigration law.

In 1882, Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act, which bans all immigration from China and prevents naturalization of Chinese immigrants already in the U.S. It is the first U.S. immigration law that bans a specific group of people. The Geary Act of 1892 extends the Chinese Exclusion Act and introduces stricter rules: it requires that Chinese immigrants in the U.S. carry certificates of residence to prove their legal status. If they are caught without those papers, they are sentenced to imprisonment with hard labor and deportation. This exclusionary law will not be overturned until the 1940s.

Graph 1. Migration Policy Institute (MPI) Data Hub: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/us-immigration-trends

The front page of a San Francisco newspaper details the opening of the Chinese Exclusion Convention in 1901.

Source: Library of Congress

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U.S. Immigrant Population and Share over Time, 1850-2018

This chart displays both the number of immigrants residing in the United States and their share of the total U.S. population over time.

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Anti-immigration forces in Congress introduce bills to make literacy a requirement for entry to the U.S. as a means to reduce immigration from less affluent countries. Such bills are opposed by business leaders seeking cheap immigrant labor and are successfully vetoed by presidents from 1895 to 1915. In 1917, Congress overrides President Wilson’s veto on the literacy test legislation amidst the nationalistic spirit at the start of World War I.

1921 – 1964In 1921, Congress passes another restrictive law, the Emergency Quota Act, creating immigration quotas on the basis of an immigrant’s national origin to its ratio of the U.S. population. This serves as the basis of a new law a few years later, the Immigration Act of 1924, also known as the National Origins Act, which further limits the annual immigration quota of each nationality to 2 percent of its proportion of the U.S. population based on the 1890 census. This sharply reduces immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe and closes the door to immigration from Asia until the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act slightly relaxes some of these restrictions. With such a strict quota system now in place, immigration levels in the U.S. plummet. In the 1930s, the number of people emigrating from the United States actually exceeds the number of immigrants coming into the country.

In 1943, with China as a U.S. ally in World War II, Congress passes the Magnuson Act, which repeals the Chinese Exclusion Act enacted over four decades earlier that banned Chinese immigration.

In 1939, following the Kristallnacht attack on Jewish communities in Europe, two legislators propose the Wagner-Rogers Bill, which would have allowed up to 20,000 Jewish German children to settle in the U.S, providing an exception to the nationality quota. Congress rejects the bill.

As World War II escalates, thousands of Jewish asylum-seekers flee Nazi Germany, hoping to find safety in the U.S. However, with rising anti-Semitism and fearing that refugees pose a national security threat due to worries about foreign spies, the U.S. shuts its doors to many Jewish people seeking safety on U.S. soil.

Following World War II, Congress passes the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, allowing admission of over 400,000 refugees from Europe, especially those escaping the new Soviet communism in Eastern Europe. During the 1950s and 1960s, a number of special bills are passed to accommodate such “escapees” from communist domination, the largest group coming from Cuba (700,000 people) after Fidel Castro’s revolution there in 1959.

Fearing labor shortages from the war, Mexico and the U.S. sign the Mexican Farm Labor Agreement and, in 1942, President Roosevelt

A political illustration in The Literary Digest magazine, published May 7, 1921. A few weeks later, Congress passes the Emergency Quota Act which restricts annual immigration based on origin of nationality.

Source: Library of Congress

The U.S. denied asylum to over 900 of these passengers, mostly Jewish, aboard the SS Louis, who were fleeing Nazi Germany in June 1939. The ship was turned away from the port of Miami and forced to returned to Europe. More than one-quarter of people on board died in the Holocaust.

Source: USHMM, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park

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creates the Bracero Program by executive order. It is the largest guest-worker program in U.S. history. Between 1942-1964, more than 4 million Mexican men come to the U.S. for short-term jobs in agriculture, railroad construction, and factories.

1965 – 1980The civil rights movement of the 1960s forces lawmakers to reexamine the national origins quota system that has been in place for more than 40 years. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 is an important turning point in the nation’s immigration policy. It replaces the old quota system with a set of seven preference categories, placing priority on reuniting families and attracting highly skilled professionals. It also creates a “per country” cap on each country, stating that no one country can receive more than 7 percent of total visas for any specific category. This new act ushers in an unprecedented wave of immigration from Asia, especially of university-trained specialists in science and medicine.

In the 1970s, the laws cap annual immigration at 290,000, not counting the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens. No more than 20,000 immigrants from any single country can enter the country in a year. In reality, many more immigrants enter the United States, but do it outside of the legal routes.

1980s – 1990sIn 1986, Congress attempts to tackle the issue of people entering and staying in the U.S. outside of legal routes with passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which penalizes employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers. It also grants amnesty to 3.2 million undocumented immigrants, allowing them to become U.S. citizens. The Immigration Act of 1990 raises the limit on annual immigration from 290,000 to 675,000. Over two-thirds of the annual lawful permanent residency visas (“green cards”) will go to family members of U.S. citizens and permanent legal residents. The rest of the green cards are “employment-based” green cards, for people with needed job skills and their families, and finally, “Diversity Visa” green cards, a special category set aside for immigrants from countries that have received relatively few visas in recent years. Along with these three categories, refugees and asylees also may apply to obtain green cards.

A refugee is legally defined as someone who cannot return to their home country because of a demonstrated or well-founded fear of persecution due to race, membership in a particular social group, political opinion, religion, or national origin. Refugees undergo extensive background checks, interviews, and screenings before resettlement and must prove their demonstrated or well-founded fear of persecution based on one of those categories. Refugee status is determined when a person is outside the U.S. and is referred for resettlement in a new country by an organization like the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNRA).

Laborers from Mexico in California’s Imperial Valley in 1935. Fearing a labor shortage after WW II, the U.S. government creates the Bracero Program in 1942, which brings millions of Mexicans to the U.S. as temporary workers over a period of several decades.

Source: Digital image courtesy of Getty's Open Content Program.

Graph 2. Migration Policy Institute (MPI) Data Hub: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/us-immigration-trends

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An asylee is someone who meets the definition of a refugee but is already within the U.S. or at a U.S. port of entry, like a border or airport, when they seek admission and apply for asylum. Not everyone who apples for asylum is granted this legal protection.

2000sIn 2001, Congress introduces a bill that would give undocumented youth brought to the U.S. as children a path to citizenship, if they meet certain requirements, such as graduating from high school. The bill is called the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act). It does not pass, but it sets the stage for President Obama’s executive order in 2012 which creates the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

The DACA program allows people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children protection from deportation, and a permit to work in the U.S. for a 2-year renewable period. DACA recipients must pay a fee and meet requirements to renew their status. While DACA protects many, the Obama administration deports more than 3 million unauthorized immigrants during its two terms. The beginning of the Trump administration introduces a hard-lined approach to immigration and in 2017, the administration announces its plans to end the DACA program. Federal judges block the plans, and two federal appeals courts issue rulings against the proposed suspension. In June 2020, in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration's attempt to end the program, citing that the administration did not provide adequate legal justification for ending DACA. The ruling has provided a temporary relief to Dreamers.

During his first week in office, by executive order, President Trump enacts a 90-day travel ban on all immigration and entry to the U.S. of nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. The ban also prohibits any other refugees from coming to the U.S. for 120 days. A Federal court blocks the executive order, and an amended ban takes its place, restricting immigrant visas and entry of nationals from Venezuela and North Korea in addition to Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. This is challenged, but eventually, the Supreme Court upholds the amended ban in June 2018. The travel ban is expanded to six new countries in early 2020.

In spring 2018, the Trump administration announces a “zero tolerance” policy targeting any migrant, including asylum-seekers, apprehended at the U.S. border. Under this policy, more than 5,500 migrant children are separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. This sparks massive public outrage and a lawsuit from the ACLU. The policy ends in

June 2018, by President Trump’s executive order.

The 2020 refugee admission ceiling is lowered to 18,000, the lowest number of refugees to be admitted to the U.S. since Congress passed the Refugee Act in 1980. This happens at a time when the number of refugees worldwide is at its highest, with more than 70 million people having fled wars and persecution.

Present DebateAs in other points throughout U.S. history, our society is engaged in a debate about what the nation’s immigration policy should be. There is no one single immigration question in this debate, but a series of issues that become part of the overall picture. Some considerations include whether current immigration

People in Los Angeles, CA march in support of immigrants in September 2017, following the Trump administration’s announcement to end the DACA program.

Source: Los Angeles March for Immigrant Rights by Molly Adams, (CC BY 2.0)

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Immigrants celebrate their new status as U.S. citizens at a naturalization ceremony at Yellowstone National Park in September 2016.

Source: NPS/Neal Herbert (Public Domain Mark 1.0)

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levels strengthen or erode our economic vitality; how we should deal with immigration outside legal means, which includes people crossing a border and those who enter the U.S. legally but overstay a visa; whether the U.S. should create a path to citizenship for DACA recipients; whether the U.S. should prioritize certain green card categories, such as employment, over family-based; how many refugees should the U.S. admit each year; and so forth.

Although newer laws are intended to streamline the immigration process, the system is slow and overburdened in many ways. In 2020, the backlog of green card visa applications from family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents is 1.5 million. The employment-based backlog for green cards totals 800,000 applications. Most of these are from Indian nationals. Due to the “per-country” visa cap rule, no country can make up over 7 percent of available green card allocations for each category each year. This means an Indian national applying for an employment-based green card today will likely have to wait decades.

From refugee resettlement, to undocumented youth, to family sponsored green card applications, it is important to think critically, have discussions, and work together to find solutions to the many nuanced challenges of immigration policy.

Additional source information, Graph 1: Migration Policy Institute (MPI) tabulation of data from U.S. Census Bureau, 2010-2018 American Community Surveys (ACS), and 1970, 1990, and 2000 Decennial Census. All other data are from Campbell J. Gibson and Emily Lennon, "Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850 to 1990" (Working Paper no. 29., U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, 1999).

Additional source information, Graph 2: Analysis of WRAPS data from the State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.

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NATION OF IMMIGRANTSSTUDENT WORKSHEETName: Date:

Vocabulary:• Naturalize (verb): to make someone a legal citizen of a country other than the one in which they were born. • Quota (noun): a fixed, limited amount or number that is officially allowed. • Xenophobia (noun): extreme dislike or fear of foreigners, their customs, their religions, etc.

1. Give three examples of policies from different time periods that aimed to reduce immigration of certain groups of people. What were the goals of those policies?

2. Name two organizations of people that promoted distrust of immigrants. Which groups of immigrants did they target? How did xenophobia play a role in these groups’ attitudes?

3. Think about how war has influenced immigration policy decisions. Give an example of a political action that was influenced by war or rising conflict. What was the reason for this action and what did it do?

4. What effect has views on the economy and jobs had on actions and attitudes towards immigrants throughout U.S. history? Give two examples of actions or attitudes towards immigrants from the government, businesses, or workers, based on views about the economy or jobs.

5. What are the main ways an immigrant can become a lawful permanent resident (obtain a green card) in the U.S. today? Out of these main green card categories, which is most popular today?

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6. What are the major differences between a refugee and an asylee? What are the similarities?

7. Why are there decades-long wait times in granting lawful permanent residency visas (green cards) for many immigrants who apply through employment-based and family-based pathways?

Questions 8-10 refer to Graph 1:

8. In which years were immigrants as a percentage of the U.S. population the highest?

9. In which year was the total number of immigrants the highest? For that year, what percentage of the population were they? Is that percentage comparable to other times in history?

10. What happened to immigration numbers after 1920? What policy was passed at this time and what did it do?

Questions 11-13 refer to Graph 2:

11. Since 1980, in which year did the U.S. admit the most refugees? The fewest?

12. What happened to the refugee admission ceiling from 2016 to 2019?

13. In what year did the U.S. admit significantly fewer refugees compared to that same year’s annual ceiling?

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NATION OF IMMIGRANTSSTUDENT WORKSHEET (page 2)

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NATION OF IMMIGRANTSSTUDENT WORKSHEET – ANSWER KEYName: Date:

1. Give three examples of policies from different time periods that aimed to reduce immigration of certain groups of people. What were the goals of those policies? The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 banned all immigration from China until it was repealed by the Magnuson Act in 1943. The National Origins Act of 1924 created nationality “quotas” where immigration for each country was capped at 2 percent of that nationality’s population in the U.S. at 1890, effectively barring Eastern and Southern Europeans. The 2017 travel ban, instated by Executive Order, targeted specific countries.

2. Name two organizations of people that promoted distrust of immigrants. Which groups of immigrants did they target? How did xenophobia play a role in these groups’ attitudes? The American Party (also known as the “Know-Nothing Party” for the secretiveness of its members) promoted xenophobic attitudes by claiming that Irish and German immigrants threatened to corrupt the country’s heritage, and they succeed in fueling anti-immigration sentiment for the next several decades. In the 1870s, the Workingmen’s Party of California, a labor party, targeted Chinese immigrants by rallying public fears, claiming Chinese immigrants drove wages down and increased job competition. This group promoted xenophobia and distrust of Chinese immigrants with its populist platform and speech, and incited violence against Chinese immigrants as this political group rose to political power in California.

3. Think about how war has influenced immigration policy decisions. Give an example of a political action that was influenced by war or rising conflict. What was the reason for this action and what did it do? The Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798 targeted French immigrants and sympathizers, in anticipation of war with France. The acts restricted anti-government free speech and writing, raised the minimum residency requirement for citizenship from 5 to 14 years, and gave the president power to imprison and deport any immigrant considered dangerous. As Jewish refugees fled Nazi Germany, in 1939, two U.S. legislators proposed the Wagner-Rogers Bill, which would have allowed up to 20,000 Jewish German children to settle in the U.S., providing an exception to the nationality quota. Congress rejected the bill. As World War II escalated, rising anti-Semitism and fear that potential Jewish refugees posed a national security threat (due to worries about foreign spies), resulted in the U.S. shutting its doors to many Jewish people seeking safety on U.S. soil. In 1943, China was a U.S. ally in World War II, so Congress passed the Magnuson Act, which repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act enacted over four decades earlier that banned Chinese immigration. Following World War II, Congress passed the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, allowing admission of over 400,000 refugees from Europe, especially those escaping the new Soviet communism in Eastern Europe.

4. What effect has views on the economy and jobs had on actions and attitudes towards immigrants throughout U.S. history? Give two examples of actions or attitudes towards immigrants from the government, businesses, or workers, based on views about the economy or jobs. As the economy struggled in the 1870s, the Workingmen’s Party of California rose to political power in the state by rallying public fears that Chinese immigrants drove wages down and increased job competition. This group also incited riots and violence against Chinese people.

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In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, anti-immigration forces in Congress introduced bills to make literacy a requirement for entry to the U.S. as a means to reduce immigration from less affluent countries. Such bills are opposed by business leaders seeking cheap immigrant labor. Fearing labor shortages from the war, Mexico and the U.S. signed the Mexican Farm Labor Agreement and, in 1942, President Roosevelt created the “Bracero Program” by executive order. It is the largest guest-worker program in U.S. history.

5. What are the main ways an immigrant can become a lawful permanent resident (obtain a green card) in the U.S today? Out of these main green card categories, which is most popular today? Family reunification, employment-based, diversity visa, and humanitarian visas like refugee or asylee status, are the main pathways to obtaining a green card. Family reunification is the most popular today, making up over 65 percent of immigrant visas granted each year.

6. What are the major differences between a refugee and an asylee? What are the similarities? Similarities: Legally defined as someone who cannot return to their home country because of demonstrated persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution due to race, membership in a particular social group, political opinion, religion, or national origin. Both must prove this demonstrated or well-founded fear of persecution in one of those five categories. Both undergo extensive screening, interviews, and background checks. Not everyone who applies for asylum is granted this legal protection, and not everyone who seeks refugee status obtains it. Differences: Refugee status is determined when a person is outside the U.S. and must be referred for resettlement in a new country by an organization like the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNRA). An asylee is someone who meets the legal definition of a refugee but is already within the U.S. or at a U.S. port of entry, like a border or airport, when they seek admission and apply for asylum.

7. Why are there decades-long wait times in granting lawful permanent residency visas (green cards) for many immigrants who apply through employment-based and family-based pathways? Due to the “per-country” visa cap rule created by the Immigration Act of 1965, no country can make up over 7 percent of available green card allocations in each category, each year. This creates a backlog of applications from countries with a large number of annual applicants.

8. In which years were immigrants as a percentage of the U.S. population the highest? 1890 (about 15 percent of total U.S. population); 1910 (about 15 percent of total U.S. population); and 1870 (about 14 percent of total U.S. population).

9. In which year was the total number of immigrants the highest? For that year, what percentage of the population were they? Is that percentage comparable to other times in history? In 2018, nearly 45 million immigrants were in the U.S., making up about 14 percent of the population. This percentage is similar to 1870 when immigrants totaled about 5.5 million.

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NATION OF IMMIGRANTSSTUDENT WORKSHEET – ANSWER KEY (page 2)

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10. What happened to immigration numbers after 1920? What policy was passed at this time and what did it do? It began to decrease and this continued over the next several decades. The National Origins Act of 1924 created a 2 percent country quota restriction based on the ratio of each nationality of origin present in the U.S. population at 1890.

11. Since 1980, in which year did the U.S. admit the most refugees? The fewest? Most: 1992 (131,000 refugees admitted); Fewest: 2018 (22,491 refugees admitted).

12. What happened to the refugee admission ceiling from 2016 to 2019? It decreased by more than 50 percent, from 85,000 to 30,000.

13. In what year did the U.S. admit significantly fewer refugees compared to that same year’s annual ceiling? 2002. During this fiscal year, 27,131 refugees were admitted despite an annual ceiling of 70,000. This mirrored restrictive immigration policies and security following the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001.

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NATION OF IMMIGRANTSSTUDENT WORKSHEET – ANSWER KEY (page 3)