The Immigration History of the United States

Summary

This script explores the pivotal role of immigration in shaping America, from the first English settlers in Jamestown to the present. It chronicles the Native American presence, European colonization, and the diverse waves of immigrants from Europe, Africa, and Asia. The narrative delves into the impact of diseases, the quest for religious freedom, economic opportunities, and the evolution of immigration policies. It also addresses the challenges faced by immigrants, including the establishment of Ellis Island and the controversial 'Operation Wetback.' The script concludes with a reflection on the current immigration landscape and its significance to America's identity.

Takeaways

• 🌐 Immigration has been a fundamental aspect of America's identity since its inception, shaping the nation into a diverse melting pot.
• 🏰 The first successful English colony was established in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, but the land was already inhabited by Native Americans.
• 🛳️ Christopher Columbus's arrival in 1492 initiated European colonization and the subsequent decline of the indigenous population due to disease and conquest.
• 🏰 European settlers, including the British, Dutch, and French, established colonies and cities, each contributing to the cultural tapestry of America.
• 🌾 Early colonists were predominantly farmers, which led to a population boom, especially in New England, due to the need for labor and large families.
• 🚢 The 17th and 18th centuries saw an influx of immigrants, particularly from Britain, Ireland, and Germany, seeking religious freedom, opportunity, or adventure.
• 🔗 The concept of 'push and pull' factors drove immigration, with people leaving their homelands due to hardships and being attracted to opportunities in the United States.
• 🚫 The first immigration law, the Asian Exclusion Act of 1875, and subsequent laws like the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, aimed to restrict immigration, reflecting growing anti-immigrant sentiment.
• 🌍 Post-WWII immigration saw a shift in source countries, with a significant increase in immigrants from Latin America and Asia, changing the demographic landscape of the U.S.
• 📉 The Hart-Celler Act of 1965 revolutionized U.S. immigration policy, abolishing national origin quotas and prioritizing family reunification and skills-based immigration.
• 🌆 Today, the U.S. has the highest immigrant population in the world, with 14.3% of its total population foreign-born, highlighting the ongoing impact of immigration on the nation's composition.

Q & A

What was the first successful colony established in America and by whom?

The first successful colony in America was established in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia, by English settlers.

Who were the original inhabitants of the land before European settlers arrived?

The original inhabitants of the land were indigenous Native Americans who had crossed over a land bridge from Siberia into what is now the state of Alaska.

What was the impact of European diseases on the Native American population?

European diseases like smallpox had a devastating impact on the Native American population, with scholars estimating that perhaps 95% of them were killed by old world diseases, leading to a continent virtually emptied of its people.

Why did Puritans come to North America and where did they settle?

Puritans came to North America to escape religious persecution, or to search for better opportunity, or simply for an adventure. They spread throughout New England in the northeast.

How did the transatlantic slave trade contribute to the population of the United States?

The transatlantic slave trade led to the forced migration of hundreds of thousands of Africans who were captured and taken prisoner in their own lands, then put on ships bound for America, where they were sold into a life of hard labor.

What was the significance of the Louisiana Purchase and the granting of statehood to western territories?

The Louisiana Purchase and the granting of statehood to western territories incorporated French and Spanish populations into the United States, contributing to the country's diversity.

What factors contributed to the increase in immigration to the United States in the 1830s?

The increase in immigration in the 1830s was due to the availability of cheap farmland from westward expansion and the manufacturing boom in cities sparked by the industrial revolution.

What was the impact of the first World War on immigration to the United States?

During the first World War, the United States took advantage of Europe's paralyzation by supplying the demand for goods that European factories couldn't meet due to the war, leading to a leap in the country's economic status.

What was the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and what was its effect on immigration?

The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 was a law that set strict limits on the number of immigrants allowed into the United States each year, significantly reducing immigration numbers from over 800,000 in 1920 to just over 300,000 in 1921.

How did the Hart-Celler Act of 1965 change American immigration policy?

The Hart-Celler Act of 1965 replaced the unfair quota system with a policy that gives preference to immigrants who have relatives already in the United States or people with job skills that are highly sought after, fundamentally shifting who was allowed into the country.

What was 'Operation Wetback' and why was it controversial?

Operation Wetback was a program launched in 1954 that involved mass deportation of Mexican immigrants. It was controversial due to its aggressive and insensitive approach, leading to the separation of families and potential violations of human rights.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 Early Beginnings of American Immigration

The first paragraph delves into the early history of immigration in America, highlighting the establishment of the first successful colony in Jamestown, Virginia, by English settlers in 1607. It acknowledges the presence of Native Americans, the first explorers of the continent, and their diverse cultures. The narrative continues with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 and the subsequent European conquest and colonization, which drastically reduced the Native American population due to warfare and diseases like smallpox. The paragraph also discusses the motives behind early European immigration, such as religious persecution and the pursuit of opportunity, and the establishment of colonies by different European groups, each contributing to the cultural tapestry of the United States.

05:02

📊 Population Shifts and Immigration Patterns in 19th Century America

The second paragraph focuses on the population dynamics and immigration trends in America around 1790, following the country's independence and the adoption of the Constitution. It discusses the significant decline in the Native American population due to disease and conflict, the Spanish settlers in the Southwest, and the French settlers along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast. The paragraph then describes the renewed wave of immigration from Britain, Ireland, and Germany in the 1830s, driven by the availability of land and industrial opportunities. It also touches on the early anti-immigrant sentiments, particularly against Irish Catholic immigrants, and the increase in immigration due to the advent of steam-powered ships, which made travel to America faster and cheaper. The paragraph concludes with a description of the diverse group of immigrants from Southern Europe who arrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

10:07

🏭 The Industrial Revolution and its Impact on Immigration

Paragraph three examines the impact of the Industrial Revolution on immigration to the United States. It describes how the young population from Europe and the Russian Empire, displaced by industrial automation, sought opportunities in America's booming industries. The United States capitalized on Europe's preoccupation during World War I to become a leading economic power, and its industries expanded to supply both domestic and European demands. The paragraph also discusses the rise of nativist sentiment and the introduction of restrictive immigration laws, such as the Asian Exclusion Act and the Emergency Quota Act, which aimed to limit immigration and define 'illegal aliens.' The narrative includes the experiences of immigrants passing through processing stations like Ellis Island and the diverse backgrounds of those who arrived during this period.

15:10

🛂 The Evolution of Immigration Policy and its Consequences

The fourth paragraph explores the evolution of U.S. immigration policy and its effects on immigration. It details the end of the bracero program and the subsequent 'Operation Wetback,' which aimed to deport undocumented immigrants and resulted in the separation of families and human rights violations. The paragraph discusses the Hart-Celler Act of 1965, which replaced the quota system with a preference for relatives of U.S. residents and individuals with in-demand skills. It also covers the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which provided amnesty for millions of undocumented immigrants, and the Immigration Act of 1990, which increased legal immigration levels. The paragraph concludes with statistics on contemporary immigration, highlighting that the U.S. is home to nearly 20% of the world's immigrants and that over 10 million people in the country are living there illegally.

20:12

🌟 The Ongoing Impact of Immigration on American Society

The final paragraph reflects on the enduring impact of immigration on American society. It emphasizes the importance of immigration in shaping the nation's identity and dynamism, suggesting that the diverse backgrounds of its people are a unifying force. The paragraph also acknowledges the challenges faced by undocumented immigrants living in the shadows and expresses hope for a greater appreciation of the contributions of immigrants to the United States. It concludes with a call to action for viewers to explore more about the topic through additional resources provided by the creators.

Keywords

💡Immigration

Immigration refers to the movement of people from one country to another with the intention of settling, residing, or working there. In the context of the video, immigration is central to the historical and contemporary narrative of the United States, shaping its cultural, economic, and demographic landscape. The video discusses various waves of immigration, from the first settlements in Jamestown to the modern era, highlighting how different groups have been drawn to America for various reasons, such as seeking religious freedom, economic opportunity, or escaping persecution.

💡Melting Pot

A 'melting pot' is a metaphor for a society where diverse cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds blend together to form a cohesive whole. The video uses this term to describe the United States, emphasizing how immigrants from various parts of the world have contributed to its unique cultural identity. The script mentions how the U.S. has been a 'one-of-a-kind melting pot of people,' illustrating the idea through the historical influx of immigrants from Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

💡Native Americans

Native Americans, also known as American Indians, First Americans, and other terms, are the indigenous peoples of the United States. The video script discusses their early history, highlighting that they were the first inhabitants of the land before the arrival of European settlers. It mentions their diverse cultures and languages and the impact of European diseases and conquests on their populations, which is a critical part of understanding the pre-colonial history of the U.S.

💡Conquistadors

Conquistadors were Spanish and Portuguese military adventurers and explorers in the Americas and other parts of the world during the Age of Exploration. The video refers to them in the context of the Spanish colonization of the Americas, emphasizing their role in subjugating indigenous peoples and the impact of European diseases like smallpox, which had a devastating effect on native populations that had no immunity to such illnesses.

💡Puritans

Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England from remaining Roman Catholic practices. In the video, Puritans are mentioned as one of the significant groups of immigrants who came to North America, mainly to escape religious persecution. They played a foundational role in the establishment of New England and the cultural and religious identity of early American colonies.

💡Slave Trade

The slave trade refers to the historical slave trade in which millions of Africans were captured and sold into slavery, primarily in the Americas. The video discusses the forced migration of Africans, who were captured and transported to America to work in labor-intensive industries like agriculture, particularly in the southern colonies. This keyword is crucial for understanding the dark history of human trafficking and its role in shaping the demographics and social dynamics of the U.S.

💡Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period of significant economic and social change in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, characterized by the shift from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, improved efficiency of water power, the increasing use of steam power, and the development of machine tools. The video connects the Industrial Revolution to the increase in immigration, as the need for labor in factories and the construction of infrastructure like railroads drew many European immigrants to the U.S.

💡Ellis Island

Ellis Island, in New York Harbor, was the gateway for over 12 million immigrants to the U.S. between 1892 and 1954. The video mentions Ellis Island as one of the key immigration processing stations, symbolizing the point of entry for many immigrants seeking a new life in America. It represents the aspirations and challenges faced by those who came to the U.S. during the peak immigration period.

💡Immigration Act of 1924

The Immigration Act of 1924, also known as the Johnson-Reed Act, established a quota system for immigration that aimed to restrict the number of immigrants entering the U.S. The video describes how this act reflected growing anti-immigrant sentiment and was part of a broader policy shift to limit immigration, particularly from Southern and Eastern Europe. This act is significant for understanding the historical ebb and flow of U.S. immigration policy.

💡Hart-Celler Act

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart-Celler Act, abolished the national origins quota system and opened the door for immigrants from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The video highlights this act as a turning point in U.S. immigration policy, moving away from the discriminatory practices of the past and towards a more inclusive approach. This act is crucial for understanding the modern demographic makeup of the U.S. and its commitment to diversity.

Highlights

America's rich history as a melting pot of immigrants.

First successful colony established in Jamestown, Virginia by English settlers in 1607.

Native Americans were the first explorers of America, with a history dating back thousands of years.

Christopher Columbus's arrival in 1492 and the initial encounters with the Arawak people.

The Spanish conquest and the devastating impact of diseases like smallpox on the Native American population.

The significant population decline of Native Americans due to disease and conflict.

The journey of British, German, and Dutch settlers to North America seeking religious freedom and opportunity.

The establishment of colonies like New Amsterdam and the spread of Puritans in New England.

The importance of family in early American farming communities and the resulting population boom.

The push and pull factors driving immigration to the United States.

The forced migration of Africans and the horrors of the slave trade.

The population breakdown of the United States around 1790 post-independence.

The westward movement of Spaniards and the establishment of diverse communities in the Southwest.

The French influence in America through settlements like New Orleans.

The resurgence of immigration in the 1830s, mainly from Britain, Ireland, and Germany.

The role of immigration in the industrial revolution and the demand for labor.

The rise of anti-immigrant sentiments in the 1850s and the targeting of Irish-Catholic immigrants.

The impact of steam-powered ships on immigration, making travel to America faster and cheaper.

The diverse wave of immigrants from Southern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The establishment of immigration processing stations like Ellis Island.

The economic opportunities for immigrants in America's growing industrial cities.

The political efforts to restrict immigration, leading to laws like the Emergency Quota Act of 1921.

The significant reduction in immigration following the implementation of the quota system.

The exceptions to strict quotas, including contract workers from the western hemisphere.

The bracero program and the influx of Mexican workers in the American Southwest.

Operation Wetback and its controversial approach to dealing with undocumented immigrants.

The Hart-Celler Act of 1965, which reformed immigration policy and removed nationality-based quotas.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, providing amnesty to millions of immigrants.

The current state of immigration in the United States, with over 45 million foreign-born residents.

Transcripts

Immigration.

It’s been the defining characteristic of America since before our country even began,

so it’s important to remind ourselves of our rich history...of where we all came from

to create this one-of-a-kind melting pot of people that is the United States in the 21st

century.

The first successful colony in America was established in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia

by English settlers.

But, these first europeans arrived in a land that was already home to other people.

To indigenous, Native Americans who thousands of years before had crossed over a land bridge

from Siberia into what’s now the state of Alaska.

They were the first explorers of this beautiful land, and they would spread throughout the

entire continent and throughout central and southern America too.

Native Americans thrived by harnessing the power of nature, and over time, they formed

into many distinct groups, each with their own languages and cultures.

Then, in 1492, as legend has it, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue and arrived

in the Bahamas and immediately encountered a group of these indigenous people called

the Arawak.

The Arawak were curious and friendly, but Columbus was filled with greed, and took some

of them prisoner, demanding they show him where the gold they were wearing came from.

Now, the Native Americans were so easy going and poorly armed compared to these Europeans

- who had modern weaponry like metal-forged swords and armor, and even guns - that Columbus

said “I could conquer the whole of them with 50 men, and govern them as I pleased.”

And that’s exactly what he, and other Spanish conquistadors who came after him, did.

They vanquished indigenous group after indigenous group with cunning and sheer brutality, and

got a lot of help from diseases like smallpox that moved ahead of them and just wiped the

natives out.

“When smallpox was taken to the new world nobody in the new world had every seen a disease

like this before.

So the number of people who were susceptible was much greater.

There was no natural immunity, so the number of people who could contract the disease and

then spread, and the number of people to receive it once it’s been spread, was much higher.”

“Some scholars think there may have been a population of 20 million native americans

and the vast majority, perhaps 95%, were killed by old world diseases.

A continent virtually emptied of its people.

Once word of the discovery of the New World spread throughout the Old World - the kingdoms

and empires of Europe - many people began to plan journeys of their own across the Atlantic

Ocean.

Starting around 1620, tens of thousands of British, German and Dutch - but mostly British

Puritans - came to North America to escape religious persecution, or to search for better

opportunity, or simply for an adventure.

The Puritans spread throughout New England in the northeast, the Dutch settled along

the Hudson River in New York and established rich, successful trading posts and cities

like New Amsterdam (which we now call New York City).

English Quakers established the Pennsylvania colony and its commercial center, Philadelphia.

More than 90% of these early colonists became farmers.

And, because they were living in small, widespread villages, disease didn’t spread as easily

as it could back in Europe, which kept the death rate among settlers in America low.

All these farmers needed large families to help them farm, which caused the population

to boom, especially in the New England colonies.

As land became harder to come by along the coasts, the roughly 350,000 Scottish and Northern

Irish who arrived throughout the 1700’s settled inland in western Pennsylvania and

along the Appalachians deep into the south.

The British sent 60,000 prisoners across the ocean to Georgia, although the only thing

many of these men were guilty of was being poor and out of work.

Tobacco was a highly profitable cash crop in the southern colonies, so many British

settled there and began to take advantage of the thriving slave trade.

“Those of us who study immigration history think in terms of why people leave their homelands

and why they come here.

And those are generally encapsulated in two words: push and pull.

Something pushes them out of their homeland and something pulls them to the United States.

Now obviously in the earliest cases of slavery they were not necessarily pushed from their

homeland, but they were taken from their homeland.

But the reason why they were taken was because there was labor to be done here in the United

States.

It was a global force, the slave trade was fairly global - at least in the Atlantic - and

later Asia would become involved in it as well.

So here you have a forced migration.”

Hundreds of thousands of Africans were mercilessly captured and taken prisoner in their own lands,

then put on ships bound for America, where they were sold into a life of hard labor for

no pay, and no chance at freedom.

[Graph] This is the population breakdown of the country around 1790, shortly after the

colonies’ hard-won war of independence with the British and the adoption of the American

constitution, which made the country of the United States official.

The Native American population was so decimated by disease, war, and migration to the west,

that only about 100,000 were left inside the territorial United States.

Out west, many Spaniards moved north from Mexico across the Rio Grande to settle in

California, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

Not all of these settlers were of European descent.

They all could speak spanish, but ethnically, they were a melting pot of whites, Indians

and mestizos, or people of mixed race.

French settlers established footholds mainly along the Saint Lawrence River and the Great

Lakes, along the Mississippi River, and along the Gulf Coast, establishing the city of New

Orleans.

Their descendants are known as Cajuns.

These French and Spanish populations would be incorporated into the United States in

the coming decades through the Louisiana Purchase and the granting of statehood to the western

territories.

After more than four decades of relatively little immigration into America after its

founding, in the 1830’s, tens of thousands of immigrants began arriving on her eastern

shores, again, mainly from Britain, Ireland and Germany.

Some were attracted to the cheap farmland that was made available by westward expansion,

while others took advantage of the manufacturing boom in the cities sparked by the industrial

revolution.

The Irish were mainly unskilled laborers who built most of the railroads and canals, took

jobs in the emerging textile mill towns in the Northeast, or worked in the ports.

About half of the Germans became farmers, mainly in the midwest, and the other half

became craftsman in urban areas.

Asian immigrants - mainly from China - began crossing the Pacific to work as laborers,

particularly on the transcontinental railroad or in the mines.

[History Professor Scott Wong] “Immigration also during the 19th century was usually male

dominated—males in their prime working years between the years of 18-25.

The Irish being the one exception.

Eventually there would be more Irish women who immigrated than Irish men.

Immigrants to this day often follow established patterns.

They leave on village or one city and go to another city in the United States because

someone has already established that pattern for them.

People go to where they know people.

And those people here can often arrange for jobs and places to live and so on.

It was often said that your first job coming off the boat was whoever picked you up at

the docks.

Now people say your first job is whoever picked you up at the airport.

[Show graph] After tripling from the decade before, in

just two more decades, from the 1830s to the 1850s, the amount of immigrants arriving in

the US each year tripled again, to about 170,000.

By the 1850s, when the total population of the country passed 20 million and things began

to get a bit crowded, America’s first measurable anti-immigrant feelings began to take root,

mainly targeting Irish-catholic immigrants who were arriving in large numbers to escape

the poverty and death of the potato famine that was hitting them hard at home.

But with a huge boom on the horizon, this early xenophobia was nothing compared to what

would come later.

Large, steam-powered ships took to the seas after 1880, replacing the older, slower sailing

ships, which meant it was suddenly much faster - and cheaper - to cross the ocean, making

the dream of a journey to America more accessible to many around the world.

“Processed and ticketed, they waited for their ship.

They boarded in many parts of Europe and in many kinds of vessels.

Most to New York and some to other ports.

But they had one thing in common—they were traveling steerage, and the steamship companies

understood the profit in numbers.”

[Chart] Before long, millions of immigrants were arriving

on America’s shores.

They passed through immigration processing stations like Ellis Island in New York and

Angel Island in San Francisco Bay.

This wave was much more diverse than before.

Coming mainly from Southern Europe, it was led by Italians, Poles, Greeks, Swedes, Norwegians,

Hungarians, Jews, Lebanese, and Syrians.

“It was as if god’s great promise had been fulfilled.

I’m going into a free land.

I don’t think I ever can explain the feeling I had that time.

It’s not my native land, but it means more to me than my native land—it means more

to me than my native land…Any country on earth this never happen.

And become a human being again--it’s a miracle...everybody had hopes.

And one thing I was sure, and thousands like me: that the degradation, and the abuse, and

the piration that we had in Europe, we wouldn’t have here.”

This group was young, most were under 30 years old, mainly because an entire generation of

the children of farmers and factory workers in Europe and the Russian empire couldn’t

find work because the owners of the farms and factories preferred to have an efficient

machine - that they didn’t have to pay - do the work instead of a human being.

Well, this was fine by America, whose steel, coal, automobile, textile, and garment production

industries were booming.

It happily took in this pool of eager, hard workers and put them to work in its growing

industrial cities.

“As mills and factories sprouted across the land, cities grew up around them.

In turn, the cities beckoned to workers by the millions from the American countryside

and from overseas to fuel the burgeoning industrialization.

What was once a rural nation was rapidly becoming an urban state.

From 1860 to 1910, the urban population grew from over 6 million to over 44 million.”

The United States also took full advantage of Europe’s paralyzation during the first

World War.

With millions dying in the midst of the bloodiest struggle the European continent had ever seen,

every country there had to completely focus its industries on producing all the supplies

- the guns, the uniforms, the tanks, the boats, the bullets - all the stuff needed to carry

on and win the fight.

But with many of its working-aged men on the front lines, in hospitals or at home after

horrific injuries - or dead - the factories of Europe couldn’t meet all the demand,

so US factories made up for the shortfall in production.

Before long, the United States had leapt to the front ranks of the world’s economic

giants.

And when the Americans entered the conflict themselves in 1917, US industry was now tasked

with supplying its own soldiers too.

It was during this 50-year immigration wave, from about 1870-1920, when many well-off,

white, native-born Americans began to consider mass immigration a danger to the health and

security of the country.

They started actively organizing to exert political power to slow it down.

The first immigration law in American history was known as the Asian Exclusion Act.

It was passed in 1875 and - you guessed it - outlawed Asians, specifically Asian contract

laborers, from stepping foot on American soil, plus any other people considered convicts

in their own countries.

In 1921, Congress pushed through a law that marked a turning-point in American immigration

policy--a law that passed the Senate 78-1.

The Emergency Quota Act set strict limits on the amount of immigrants who would be allowed

into the country each year.

It was very effective.

The number of new immigrants let in fell from over 800,000 in 1920 to just over 300,000

admitted in 1921.

[CHART] If the pace of immigration had been like a

raging river, this law acted like a dam.

But that drop off in the flow of persons into America still didn’t satisfy the anti-immigration

crowd who, just three years later in 1924, forced congress to tighten the quota even

more, established the border patrol, and stated that any undocumented immigrants who entered

the country were subject to deportation.

It’s during this time that the definition of “illegal alien” was born, a term that

would be used to stigmatize the next group the anti-immigration community’s crosshairs

became fixed on: latin-american migrants living and working in the US Southwest.

After the quota laws passed by the US Congress in the 1920’s, immigration was capped for

the first time in American history.

One of the exceptions to the strict quotas were documented contract workers from the

western hemisphere who could come into and out of the US freely.

The other major exception were the hundreds of thousands of refugees who were allowed

in, mainly Jews escaping the horrors of the Holocaust during and after World War II, and

the roughly 400,000 families who fled Cuba after the Castro-led revolution of 1959.

The US entrance into World War II also meant many more Mexican workers were needed to fill

in for all the young American men who were off fighting the Germans in Europe and the

Japanese in the Pacific.

At the end of this period, between 1944 and 1954, the number of immigrants coming from

Mexico increased by 6,000 percent, as many Latin American workers were offered low wage

agricultural jobs in the American Southwest as part of the bracero program.

But large numbers of Mexicans without the necessary paperwork came in search of the

American dream too, and what followed is one of the ugliest periods in US immigration history.

With pressure mounting to do something about the thousands of immigrants easily crossing

the southern border each year, President Eisenhower turned to Gen. Joseph Swing, who launched

“Operation Wetback” in 1954.

That derogatory name reveals the insensitivity of the policy, which directed hundreds of

federal officials to lead thousands of local police officers on sweeps through neighborhoods

throughout the American southwest, stopping any “Mexican looking” person and demanding

to see their papers.

If they didn’t have their papers, they were arrested and deported.

Some estimates put the amount of illegal immigrants thrown out of the country above one million,

leading to countless families being torn apart.

In some cases, their American-born children were even sent away.

Obviously, this program angered many Mexican-American citizens, and anyone else who saw it as a

blatant violation of human rights on a massive scale.

[History professor Miguel Levario] “What we have here is an aggressive and sort of

paramilitary approach to deportation and mass deportation and of course the use of propaganda

to address the issue of unauthorized Mexican workers in the United States.

Because the Border Patrol agency was so small - I mean, they’re using local law enforcement

- so while they’re out there trying to look for undocumented immigrants what aren’t

they doing?

Their own basic responsibilities of keeping neighborhoods safe, addressing burglaries,

murders, whatever it could be.

Operation Wetback was terminated in large part because of cost, in large part because

it just became too taxing on local resources.

We also found out that regardless of how far you sent them into the interior, within days,

sometimes weeks, they were right back in there.

The final era of immigration to America is the one we’re still currently in, which

began in 1965 with the passage of the Hart-Celler Act.

This law finally replaced the unfair quota system with a policy that gives preference

to immigrants who have relatives already in the United States, or people with job skills

that are highly sought after.

All other past restrictions targeting specific groups were thrown out.

This was one of the crown jewels in President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society program and

it fundamentally shifted who was allowed in.

[CHART]

In 1970, 60% of immigrants came from Europe, this number just fell off a cliff by the year

2000, when only 15% were from Europe.

The one thing that didn’t change were the many undocumented immigrants from Latin America

who continued to come across the border in search of a better life.

So, in an effort to address this, in 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration

Reform and Control Act, which gave green cards to about 2.7 million immigrants.

It was the largest single moment of legalization in American history.

As a conservative from the anti-immigration party in modern America, the Republican Reagan

compromised in exchange for more restrictions on employers who hire illegal immigrants,

and tighter border security.

But it was a flawed law in a number of ways, mainly, it didn’t effectively fix the broken

system that was allowing businesses to hire illegal immigrants in the first place.

So since the businesses could still break the rules, many low paying jobs remained for

the millions of undocumented immigrants in America that the law didn’t legalize.

The bill also didn’t adequately fund and equip the border patrol, which meant there

was still a fairly consistent flow of people coming across the border.

To fix some of these problems, Sen. Ted Kennedy introduced, and Congress passed, the Immigration

Act of 1990, which President George H.W.

Bush signed into law.

This increased the number of legal immigrants entering the United States from around 500,000

per year to 700,000--an increase of 40%.

This bill is also noteworthy because it was bipartisan, with a democratically-controlled

congress working with a Republican president to pass major, common-sense immigration reform.

Since the passage of that 1990 bill, about 1,000,000 immigrants on average legally achieve

residence in the United States each year.

These are the top ten countries ranked by the number of legal immigrants from these

countries who came to the United States in 2013 according to the Department of Homeland

Security.

[Chart]

According to the 2010 Census, these are the countries from which all immigrants currently

in the United States came from, ranked by the total number of people in America who

say they were born in each country.

Today, 14.3 percent of the total American population is foreign born.

That’s more than 45,000,000 people.

The United States is home to nearly 20% of all the immigrants in the world.

It’s estimated that more than 10 million of the immigrants in the United States are

here illegally, living in the shadows.

Thank you for watching, I hope you gained a greater appreciation for who we are as a

nation and how immigration has allowed us to attract people from all over the rest of

the world, how that is the single-most important factor in binding us together and making us

such a dynamic country.

This video was proudly created by the two-brother team that is the daily conversation, the video

editor Brendan Plank and myself.

Until next time, for TDC, I’m Bryce Plank.

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