Filipino Migrants to the United States - Term Paper Example

Migration to the US has been going on for many years, and migrants to the US have come from various countries and corners of the globe. One of these countries is the Philippines. There are now thousands of Filipino migrants to the US, and these migrants have become very much a part of the American culture and landscape. As of 2008, “there were 2.9 million members of the Filipino diaspora residing in the US…including 1.4 million native-born US citizens of Filipino ancestry” (Filipinos for Justice, p. 1). This paper shall discuss Filipino immigrants to the US, where they came from, why they left their native countries, why they chose to come to the US, what they accomplished in America, and what they contributed to America.

This paper is being carried out in order to establish a clear and comprehensive understanding of Filipino immigrant presence in the US and to understand their place in American society. Discussion There are millions of Filipino immigrants now living in the United States. They come from the Republic of the Philippines, an archipelago located in the South East Asian region (Philippine History). This country was first discovered by Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan in the 1500s, and later was named after Prince Philip of Spain.

It would be ruled by Spain for over 3 centuries until the Philippine revolt in the late 1800s (Philippine History). . Like many migrants to the US who have gone before and after them, Filipino migrants have also had a colorful history in their migration in the US. There are three waves of Filipino entry into the US. The first wave was seen from 1906 to 1935 when mostly Filipino men were recruited by American labor unions to work as cheap laborers in the sugarcane and pineapple plantations which were severely bothered by labor disputes (Riedmiller, p. 4). They were brought into the US as nationals since the Philippine islands were a US territory at that time.

The second wave of Filipino US immigration was prompted by the US situation during the Second World War. President Roosevelt’s Executive Order signed on the 26th of July 1941 called on members of the Philippines Commonwealth Army to serve in the US Armed Forces of the Far East (USAFFE); they were offered “US citizenship and other benefits” (Riedmiller, p. 4). However, the Rescission Act of 1946 declared these veterans ineligible to receive promised benefits. Nevertheless, women migrants to the US were seen in this second wave of migration, as they were brought into America as brides.

This law was passed to ease racial tension caused by the anti-miscegenation laws which prevented various inter-racial marriages (Riedmiller, p. 4). The third wave was very much different from the first two waves with the new immigrants flowing in great numbers to the US due to America’s need for professionals. They started reaching the US in the third preference category of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (Riedmiller, p. 4). This third wave mostly accounts for the current significant number of Filipino doctors and nurses in the US health sector.

In the current context,