A Cloak for Discrimination

‘A Cl oak for Discri mina tion’ Trump order reminds Asian-Americans of laws against them

Pres id en t Trump’s con trovers ial immigration order has played out on the national stage with protests, court rulings and now a promise by the president to replace the travel ban. But for Nick Lee, it’s personal -- a painful reminder of his family’s history.

Lee’s grandfather was separated for 16 years from his wife and never got to see his first childbefore she died -- all because of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first major U.S. law restricting who could come into the country. The 1882 law -- followed by other exclusion acts that stayed in force for six decades -- was born amid a wave of fear that Chinese workers who had come during the Gold Rush and helped build the United States’ railroads were competing with other Americans for jobs and lowering wages. In 1868, the U.S. signed a treaty encouraging Chinese migration; 24 years later, the Chinese Exclusion Act turned away immigrants from what was even then the world’s most populous nation. Chinese immigrants in California were instrumental in building the By: STACY CHEN Feb 18, 2017, 1:50 AM ET

Transcontinental Railroad and shouldered much of the work building the West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. “They used to say that the Chinese are outsiders, and they couldn’t mix with our society, just like what they’re saying about Muslims now,” said Lee, who works for OC A-Asian Pacific American Advocates, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization. Lee said he fears that Trump’s executive actions will separate families in the same way as his. “It’s horrifying,” he said. “There’s no other word for it.”

In 1868, the U.S. signed a treaty encouraging Chinese migration; 24 years later, the Chinese Exclusion Act turned away immigrants from what was even then the world’s most populous nation. Chinese immigrants in California were instrumental in building the Transcontinental Railroad and shouldered much of the work building the West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Trump ’s tra vel ban The president said Thursday that he will issue a new executive action soon following a federal court’s putting a hold on the order signed Jan. 25. That order bans entry into the U.S. of people from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days, suspends refugee admissions from any country for 120 days and indefinitely bans the entry of Syrian refugees. The president said executive action is necessary to bolster national security and that the seven countries -- Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen -- were identified by the Obama administration as a concern because of their history of links to terrorism. Critics said the order is a de facto Muslim ban. Within hours after it was signed, scores of people coming to the U.S. were detained at airports around the country. Families were separated as members trying to join loved ones in the U.S. were stopped. And 60,000 visas were cancelled in one week before a federal judge stayed the order on Feb. 3, 2017.

‘I wanted to li ve, so I had to come to America ’ The president’s immigration order also brought up painful reminders for Erika Lee. Her grandfather came to the U.S. in 1918 as an orphan under a fake identity, what was called “a paper son,” with documents falsely stating he was related to American citizens.

“He had to give up his name and become someone else.” said Erika Lee, a history professor at the University of Minnesota and the author of books on immigration including, “At America’s Gates: Chinese Immigration During the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943,” and who is not related to Nick Lee.

She said her grandfather felt he had no choice. “I remember my grandfather saying ‘I wanted to live, so I had to come to America,’” she said. In China, “if you wanted to live during that time you went abroad.” Political and economic instability in China from around the 1850s on led thousands to immigrate to

the U.S. in search of opportunity and a better life, according to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. Erika Lee said the president’s travel ban reminds her of old U.S. laws restricted Chinese immigration -- presented as for the “public good” and “national security” when really such laws are “a cloak for discrimination,” she said. “It pains me and frustrates me to no end to realize we are repeating the mistakes of the past,” Erika Lee said of the president’s executive order, “repeating laws that our presidents and government have regretted and regarded as a historic mistake.”

Full article can be found at: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/cloakdiscrimination-trump-order-reminds-asianamericans-laws/story?id=45243415

In the Classroom

DISCUSSION: There are chilling similarities emerging between the politics of the late 19th century and today. Identify and explore these events. What should we have learned from the past? How can we apply it to our future?

GOING FURTHER: Ask students to write letters to their representatives explaining what they should keep in mind in terms of human rights and immigration politics as we head into this election year.