Immigration Policies in the History of the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa - Essay Example

Immigration Policies in the History of the United s, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa Immigration delineates the movement of people from one country to another for permanent settlement. Immigration occurs due to a myriad of reasons including economic, political, poverty, natural disaster, and family re-unification among many others. Conversely, an immigration policy refers to any policy adopted by a government regarding the movement of people across its borders into the country. Each and every country adopts immigration policies that are best suited to deal with various immigration situations in the country. Thus, there is a variation in immigration policies from one country to another. This paper therefore compares and contrasts the immigration policies in the history of the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. The United States immigration policies Throughout history, the United States has served as a destination of freedom and opportunity for many people across the world. As such, immigration has been an integral part of the development of the United States, socially, politically and economically. More often than not, the United States has had to rely on foreigners to diversify the American society as well as to boost the economy. Prior to analysis the history of immigration policies in eth United States, it is worth having an overview of the history of immigration itself. Thus, the first immigrants to come to the United States arrived from Europe. Most of them came for came voluntarily for commercial, settling and religious purposes. Conversely, other immigrants came involuntarily. These include the many English convicts as well as African slaves who were forcefully shipped to the United States during the peak of slave trade. During the nineteenth Century, there was a large wave of European immigrants who came to the United States. Their coming may be attributed to a myriad of both pull and push factors. Most of these immigrants were Irish and Germans. The economic depression and religious intolerance experienced in German during this period greatly accounted for their immigration. Similarly, there was a massive potato famine and loss of lands in Ireland. This stimulated their immigration to the United States. Be that as in may, these immigrants were beneficial to the rapidly changing economy of the United States. Towards the end of the nineteenth, there was another wave of European immigrants to the United States. This group mainly comprised of people from Italy, Russia and Austria. Most of them were Jewish. This was later followed by a large wave of Chinese immigrants to the United States. According to Cohn (72) the Chinese immigration is greatly attributed to the population explosion that was experienced in China during that period, as well as food shortage. They provided cheap labor, which stirred up economic development in the United States. These Chinese immigrants were also important during the construction of railroad after the Civil War. Furthermore, in the early twentieth century, Mexican immigration to the United States drastically escalated. At the time when Chinese and Japanese immigrants had been excluded from working in the United States, the Mexican immigrants became an integral source of cheap labor. With regards to immigration policy, the United States has instituted several polices especially after 1882. Thus, the first restrictive immigration law in the United States was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.this law was mainly directed towards Chinese immigrants and was affected up to the Second World War period. The Chinese Exclusion Act in essence, codified racism into law by denying citizenship for Chinese immigrants as well as suspending their entry into the U.S (Cohn 122). The policy that discriminated against Chinese was also adopted by Canada as discussed later on in this paper. A series of other policies and laws were instituted in the United States after this period. For instance in 1906, a policy was passed which required the ability to speak and understand English as a requirement for naturalization. Moreover, in 1917, the Congress prohibited immigration from all Asian countries with the exclusion of the Philippines and Japan. The Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 established a new national-origins quota system which favored the immigrants form northern Europe and banned immigration by person’s deemed to be ineligible to citizenship (Borjas 211-213). This law greatly affected Japanese immigrants. In addition, between 1942 and 1964, a program dubbed Bracero guest worker facilitated the immigration of close to five million farm workers to the United States. In 1954 a policy known as Operation Wetback saw the deportation of close to 1.1 million Mexican immigrants (Cohn 148). Likewise, the Immigration Act of 1965 removed the race-based criteria for admission in the United States. Instead, admission was to be based on an individual’s skills, profession and relation to family in the U.S.A decade later, the Congress passed a law that paved way for the resettlement of Southeast Refugees who came to America, following the Vietnam War. On the other hand, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 granted amnesty to undocumented immigrants. It also gave sanctions for all the employers who hired workers who were undocumented. In 1995, proposition 187 was approved in California. This prohibited undocumented immigrant from gaining access to publicly funded education, health services as well as health services. However, this provision was later on declared unconstitutional (Borjas 218). In 1996 a series of immigration legislations were enacted by the U.S Congress. These include the Anti-terrorism Legislation, the Welfare Reform and the Immigration Reforms (Cohn 132-134). These acts made significant changes in immigration. For instance, they instituted restrictions towards access to social safety programs by immigrants. They also toughened border enforcement and then closed the legalization of undocumented immigrants. These cats also reduced many due-process rights previously enjoyed by immigrants. They minimized immigrants’ access to courts and increased the grounds for deportation. Ultimately, in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S Congress enacted the USA Patriot Act. This act empowers the federal government to detain suspected terrorists indefinitely. Such a law, which aims at combating terrorism and reducing the prevalence of terrorism, was also adopted in Canada. Canada immigration policies Canada as a nation has reaped a profusion of benefits from immigrants throughout history. As such, Canada has been able to access diverse skills and abilities which the immigrants contribute to labor. Thus, several policies have been instituted so as to incorporate the immigrants with the aim of achieving economic expansion and averting economic recessions. The Canadian government has always strived to ensure that they adopt policies which will facilitate the balance between labor supply and demand with regards to immigrants. At this juncture, a brief history of the Canadian immigration policies is necessary. In this regards, the aftermath of the Confederation in 1867 saw immigration policy become a priority to the Canadian new federal government (Knowles 56). As such, Canada took the initiative of attracting a large number of immigrants, who were perceived as a key economic strategy to facilitate a growth in the national demand for domestic goods as well as stimulate the manufacturing industry that was on its feet. Besides, the Canadian government wanted the immigrants to settle in the vast lands in the West, which were unoccupied. This was a strategy by the Canadian government to secure sovereignty of those regions. Thus, in 1869, the Canadian federal government enacted the Immigration Act which laid the foundation for the Canadian immigration policies. This act was based on open door policy whereby it provided virtually no restrictions regarding who could immigrate to Canada. A few restrictions were placed on immigration by criminals, persons with disabilities, the poor and the ill. The act also stipulated the requirements and specified the conditions for transportation of immigrants to Canada. Also, the federal government enacted the Dominion Land act which was aimed at attracting immigrants to settle in the west. This was aimed at stimulating economic growth in the unoccupied west. Thus, under this Act, the government gave free land to male immigrants who were ready to cultivate the land as establish permanent homes within a period of not less than three years (Knowles 114-116). Just like the United States immigration policies in the nineteenth Century, the Canadian immigration policy was discriminatory in nature as well. In this regards, the Canadian open door policy mainly targeted immigrant of Caucasian ethnicity especially Europeans and Americans. Deliberate discrimination was imposed upon the Chinese. As such, the Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act of 1885 was enacted. This act imposed a heavy tax on individual Chinese immigrants with the aim of restricting any further Chinese immigration to Canada especially after the completion of the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The act also denied Chinese immigrants Canadian citizenship. These discriminatory restrictions were imposed up to 1947. During the First World War, the Canadian immigration policy changed. In this regards, the federal government instituted heavy restrictions on immigrations to Canada. Moreover, the Canadian government suspended all immigrations from nations that were perceived as enemies. These include Germany, Hungary and Austria. In addition, the War Measure Act of 1914 was legislated. This required all residents to register with the government and be in possession of identification cards. After the World War I, the Canadian restrictions towards immigrants tightened even further. The aftermath of the war left Canada marred with political and economic hurdles. For instance, there was a rise on communism and a looming Great Depression which threatened the Canadian economy to large extents. Consequently, there was revision in the immigration policy by enacting the Immigration Act of 1919. This act empowered the government to restrict the immigration of certain specific group to Canada. This was also perpetuated after the Second World War. Conversely, the Canadian economy after the Second World War experienced unprecedented growths. Thus, this alleviated the worries of Canadian losing their jobs to cheap foreigners. Once again, the Canadian policymakers perceived immigration as an integral element for economic growth. Following this perception, the federal government lifted the ban on Chinese immigrants. Furthermore, another immigration policy was instituted by the enactment of a new Immigration act in 1952. This act perpetuated the discriminatory practices in the preceding acts. Thus, it also promoted the practice of preferring some immigrants over others. Alternatively, other key reforms were implemented in the Canadian immigration policy in the 1960s. For instance, in 1962, the government eliminated the racial discrimination that had marred the incumbent immigration policy. In 1966 the White Paper on immigration was tabled by the government. It acknowledged immigration as major contributor to the achievement of national goals on population as well as their role in economic growth (Knowles 146). However, the paper registered its preference for skilled immigrants as their productivity and value is highly regarded in comparison with unskilled immigrants. Another milestone in the immigration policy reforms was the 1975 Green Paper. This paper recognized immigration as the tool toward meeting the labor needs in Canada. It also recognized ethnic diversity and encouraged immigrant settlement in more remote and less populous regions. In 1976 a new law was enacted, the Immigration Act of 1976 which called for increased planning and provincial consultations regarding immigration policy. The act introduced new categories of immigrants including the independent class, the humanitarian class, family class and assisted relative class. In the 1980s another category of immigrants was introduced. This was the business class, which incorporates people who are willing to bring significant capital investments in Canada. These groups of immigrants have played a significant role in the economic growth and development of Canada. In 2001, the Canadian federal government replaced the 1976 Immigration Act by enacting the Immigration and refugee Protection Act. This act maintained most of the legal frameworks stipulated in the previous act but instituted tighter eligibility requirements for the business immigrants, skilled immigrants as well as refugees. New Zealand immigration policies After 1840 when New Zealand gained independence from the British colonialists, immigration process was fully embraced by the Canadian independent government. The provincial and the central government promoted immigration to Canada. Thus, the immigration policy at this time was motivated by the perception that there were free resources left behind by the colonialists (Winkelmann 61-63). This implied that more and more people were required in New Zealand. For instance, the period of 1860 witnessed a series of immigrants flocking New Zealand as a result of a short gold rush. Consequently, in the 1880’s New Zealand witnessed a major economic recession in terms of raw materials prices and demand. Consequently, this resulted to a change the attitude towards immigrants to large extents. Thus, immigrants were perceived as competitors who would substitute the residents work with their cheap labor. They were seen as a threat to the resident worker’s productivity and income. There were also fears that increased population could cause a strain in the available resources. Be that as it may, the immigration policies began to change. For instance, effectively form 1916, all foreigners were required to present a passport before they could be allowed entry in New Zealand. During the interwar period, New Zealand’s immigration policy became more planned and took a more administrative approach. However it was more of a mutual relationship. As such, New Zealand guaranteed maintenance and employment for immigrants, whereas the immigrants were to give up their freedom to live in New Zealand for a period of five years. Nonetheless, New Zealand started experiencing slow economic growth and unemployment problems escalated. This compelled the government to suspend the policy of assisted immigration. In the wake of the economic depression of the 1930s in New Zealand, the government instituted severe restriction on new immigration. This was based on the argument that new settlers added unto the supply of labor. After the Second World War, New Zealand government constituted a Dominion Population Committee whose recommendation about carefully planned immigration policy was adopted. According to Winkelmann (68), the Canadian government preferred British immigrants, thereby established a program of assisted immigration from Britain in 1947. In 1950, the government liberalized immigration. Thus, persons from other selected countries in Northwest Europe were permitted in New Zealand. Consequently, the Dutch were also given preferred immigrant status. In the 1970s there was a drastic change in the immigration policy. It was held that more immigrants were economically, socially and culturally enriching. However, the economic downturn which followed the oil crisis made the government revert back to more exclusivist attitudes which required the issuing of legal permits and documents for entry in New Zealand. In 1988, New Zealand adopted a new set of immigration policies. In this regards, they categorized immigrants into classes just as in the case of Canada. However, the New Zealand immigrants were classified into three distinct categories: humanitarian, family reunification and economic or occupational immigrants (Winkelmann 65). The occupational immigrants have been integral instrument or the labor market policy in New Zealand. Thus, it is apparent that New Zealand’s immigration policy has always instituted administrative changes so as to suit and match the changing demands in the labor market (Hanes 37-38). Australian Immigration Policies When Australia was granted its internal self-governance, it began to make its own policies with regards to immigration. In the first years of independence, Australia adopted an assisted immigration policy similar to that of New Zealand. However, following the depression that marred Australia in the 1890s this policy was halted. It was then resumed in 1906 following a relative prosperity and economic growth in Australia. By 1940, large portions of immigrants in Australia had been assisted. Just like New Zealand, Australia had a preference for British immigrants. Thus, the Australian federal government carried out extensive campaigns in Britain so as to lure British immigrants into Australia. The period between 1901 and 1940 was referred to as the era of the White Australia policy. This was a policy adopted so as to promote the immigration from all European countries especially the British. Furthermore, the Austrian government enacted two important Acts, the Pacific Island Laborers Act of 1901 and the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901(Bernstein and Weiner 189). These two acts perpetuated the prohibition of non-white immigration for over 60years. These two acts were supplemented by the Contract Immigration Act of 1905 which encouraged selective immigration. Nonetheless, immigration in Australia was contingent on economic as well as political considerations. South African immigration policies Following the acquisition of independence in South Africa in 1994, there were remarkable changes in the immigration policy. This way the South African immigration policy became more exclusionary and selective. This can be attributed to the fact that South Africa had to deal with inherent increase in immigration to the country, as well as the incumbent shortage of labor. However, immigration in South Africa is still controlled by the Alien Control Act of 1991. Thus, only a few changes have been instituted in the South African immigration policy. For instance, in 1995 a few sections of the Aliens Control Act were amended. As a result of these amendments, amnesty was granted to mine workers and to illegal nationals who had resided in eth country since 1991. Also, restrictions were instituted so as to prevent the employment of irregular immigrants. Moreover, the South African government undertook the initiative of deporting a substantial number of immigrants especially in the period between 1990 and 1997. Furthermore, the 2002 Immigration Act was passed. This act aims at restricting immigrations to South Africa through tightening visa restrictions. As such, the procedures of getting a visa to enter South Africa are very time consuming, bureaucratic and discouraging. Besides, to be granted visa to enter South Africa requires much logistical procedures and financial obligations (Crush, Jeeves, and Yudelman 112). These measures were largely meant to curb irregular immigration and smuggling across the South African border. Immigrants have been attributed to the deteriorating South African labor market. This has perpetuated the xenophobic attitude that characterizes the country (Crush, Jeeves, and Yudelman 126). However, due to the fact that the country is marred by rampant unemployment, the South Africans see no need for immigrants as they tend to bolster this problem. Even so, South Africa tends to gain a lot from immigration in terms of skilled persons who form an integral component of the country’s economy. From the foregoing discussing, it can be concluded that immigration is an important element in any country in the world. However, much regulations should be instituted so as ensure a balance in the flow of immigrants to any county. It is on this basis that each and every country formulates immigration policies that are best suited to address the immigration situation of the country. Therefore, there are various commonalities as well as variation in the immigration policies in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. 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