Chapter Seventeen Reading Questions (2 of 2)

For Friday's class, please read Chapter 17 from page 422 to 451, and be prepared to answer
the questions below.

This is the last of the Daniels book, and it's kind of fun to see what was going on just thirteen years ago, and what he predicted for the future. Was he right? After this we will focus on current issues and make our own predictions about the future of immigration.

• Why was there so much anti-immigrant rhetoric in the IRCA and the sixteen statutes affecting immigration passed during the 1990s? Were they really getting "tough"?
• Did Presidents Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton reduce immigration?
• What replaced the concern about communists?
• Why was the money thrown at the INS during the 1990s largely wasted?
• What has been the corollary of increased border security?
• Do people caught at the border usually get deported?
• What is the INS record on prisoners?
• Why did naturalization increase so much in the 1990s? How much did it cost?
• What did the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform report (aka the Jordan report) not point out as the chief culprit in the illegal immigration dilemma?
• Who supported California Proposition 187? Was it effective? Why was George W. Bush (then the governor of Texas) against it?
• Layout the problems with the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act and the 1998 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.
• What did Pope John Paul II say about immigration?
• How have Germany and Japan dealt with immigration in the past? What do those countries and many other developed countries have to worry about for the future of their economies?
• Why did organized labor completely reverse its policies on immigration?

Chapter Seventeen Reading Questions (1 of 2)

For Wednesday's class, please read Chapter 17 through page 422 and be prepared to answer
the following questions:

• What has changed and what has stayed the same in American immigration since 1986?
• In the 2000 census, what percentage of the population was foreign born? How does that compare to the historical numbers? (Hint: check the tables in this chapter and in chapter 6.)
• According to the 2000 census, the largest numbers of immigrants came from what regions of the world? Where did most settle? What were their education achievements and income?
• Why is the data so misleading when the census data on immigrants is lumped together?
• What does Daniels say the responsible historian must try to do?
• Who are "nonimmigrant" immigrants?
• Who do experts think comprise the major portion of the illegal immigrants?
• What is the longstanding discrimination against Mexican as opposed to Canadian border crossers?
• Why are the government's estimates of the number of illegal immigrants so unreliable?
• If we accept the government's numbers, what, in Daniel's opinion, are the vast majority of the 1.8% of the U.S. population that is undocumented?

Chapter Sixteen Reading Questions

For Monday's class, please read Chapter 16, and be prepared to answer the following questions:

• Why was their a resurgence of Nativism in the late 1970's? Why was "the image of gaining control" so popular?
• What were some recommendations of the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy?
• How did the nativism of the 1980's contrast with the nativism of the 1920's?
• What four major provision did the Immigration Reform Act of 1986 contain?
• How many illegal immigrants took advantage of the amnesty program, and who were they?
• What is the "essential hypocrisy" of the law?
• What was the "paradoxical effect" of the law?
• What is "white collar nativism"?
• Who are the exception to the rule that few Western Europeans wish to emigrate?
• Have you seen evidence to support the statement, "Some who celebrate their own immigrant roots the loudest are among those who express fears about present or future immigrant invasions"?

Chapter Fifteen Reading Questions

For Friday's class, please read Chapter 15 and be prepared to answer the following questions:

• Who are the majority of recent immigrants from Spanish-speaking America and who do their migration patterns most resemble? 
  
• What became the Cuban American population center, what was their socioeconomic background, and what effect have they had on the part of America where they are concentrated?
• How has the Cuban Refugee program effected race relations?
• What percentage of the Dominican population came to the U.S. on tourist visas?
• Why are conditions so bad in Haiti, and why are Haitians not generally given refugee status in the U.S.?
• With the exception of Costa Rica, what kind of shape are the countries of Central America in and why?
• Why did the president of El Salvador ask the U.S. not to deport Salvadorans?
• What are the three classes of Central America refugees?
• What is the sanctuary movement?
• Why did Soviet Jews go to the head of the immigration line? What's the irony in this?

Chapters Thirteen & Fourteen Reading Questions

On Monday we'll catch up on Chapter 12 (see previous post for reading questions). For Wednesday, please read Chapters 13 and 14 and be prepared to answer the following questions:

Chapter 13

• How did the Cold War effect immigration and immigration policy?
• What was surprising about who was admitted under the Displaced Persons Act of 1948? 
• What did President Truman say was the greatest vice of the quota system and what was he specifically referring to?
• While immigration policy was still focused on Europe, who was really immigrating to the U.S. in larger numbers and why?
• What was revolutionary about the Immigration Act of 1965 and how did it fit with the national mood?
• What were the unanticipated results of the 1965 law?
• What is parole authority and how does it relate to the Refugee Act of 1980.
• How does a refugee differ from an asylee?
• How did American attitudes toward refugees change between WWII and 1980?
• What was the Mariel Crisis and how did it compare with Haiti's boat people?
• What's so interesting about the numbers of legal immigrants and the quota limits?

Chapter 14

• What three things does Daniels say brought about a change in attitude towards Asian immigrants?
• What characteristics have led to Asian Americans being called the model minority?
• What are ABCs and FOBs and who are the "silent" Chinese of San Francisco?
• What are the three distinct increments of Filipino immigration?
• What profession niche do recent Filipino immigrants dominate and why?
• Who were the Koreans who came before the 1965 immigration act?
• What do Indian and Korean immigrants have in common?
• How and why do Vietnamese immigrants differ from other recent Asian immigrants?
• What was the total number of Vietnamese War refugees and their children, and what nationalities are included?
• Compare the population growth of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Indian, Korean, and Vietnamese Americans since 1965. What accounts for the differences?

Midterm Questions II

The Midterm Exam will be on Wednesday, 10/15. It will consist of three (3) essay questions that will cover broad themes of immigration and ethnic history. The questions will require you to include evidence from more than one chapter of the textbook. The questions will take 15 minutes to answer on average. The exam will be open-book and open-note. 

The questions are

1. What are the three myths of American immigration, and what are the real "laws" or tendencies?
2. Outline key immigration legislation up to World War II, and explain the what, when, and why of it.
3. What factors contribute to the cultural persistence of an ethnic group, and what factors lead to loss of cultural identity/assimilation? (give examples)

Midterm Questions

The Midterm Exam will be on Wednesday, 10/15. It will consist of three (3) essay questions that will cover broad themes of immigration and ethnic history. The questions will require you to include evidence from more than one chapter of the textbook. The questions will take 15 minutes to answer on average. The exam will be open-book and open-note. 

Here are suggestions questions/topics for the exam from today's class meeting:

1. Laws/tendencies of immigration
2. Refugees
3. Myths of immigrations (related to #1)
4. Why do some ethnic groups assimilate while others' cultures persist?
5. Immigration legislation: what/when/why?
6. Nativism: when and why?
7. British cultural domination and Angloconformity
8. How has the "means" changed
9. Involuntary immigration
10. Chronology of immigration--who came when
11. Patterns of jobs and businesses of immigrants 

Please review these topics this weekend. We will finalize the questions on Monday.