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English settlers step foot onto a new 'undiscovered' piece of land we like to call America- where it all began. The "Original 13 Colonies" were created and boat after boat arrived establishing a new society, a new world. Little did the English know, they were not alone. They were sharing this new land with Native Americans.
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"In 1700, nearly a century after Jamestown, only about 250,000 white and black inhabitants populated the colonies... The vast majority of the white inhabitants were either born in England or descended from English immigrants. Only about 11 percent [27,500] of the non-Native American population were black." (Hopeful Journeys: German Immigration, Settlement, and Political Culture in Colonial America, 1717-1775, Aaron Fogleman)
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"...from the time of James II to the accession of George III, the British authorities generally were active in fostering foreign immigration... After 1773, all naturalization was abruptly stopped, and in the next year, heavy financial burdens were imposed upon emigrants and shipmasters who violated the law--a change in policy that was not overlooked by the American Rev. when they compiled their grievances against George III in the Declaration of Independence." (We Who Built America, Carl Wittke)
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The original 1790 Alien Naturalization Act provided the first rules to be followed by all of the United States in the granting of national citizenship. Based on that, the law of naturalization was limited to aliens who were 'free white persons' and thus left out indentured servants, slaves, and most women, all of whom were considered dependents and thus incapable of casting an independent vote.
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The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo resulted in the United States acquiring Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, California, and Parts of Utah and Nevada from Mexico. The 80,000 Mexicans already living in the territory were allowed to remain and receive citizenship.
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"The 1882 Act to Regulate Immigration prohibited entry to ‘any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge’. The law was designed to exclude immigrants whose undesirable conditions might prove costly to society – including convicted criminals, the poor, and the mentally ill." (www.eugenicsarchive.org)
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Congress passed the Labor Appropriation Act of 1924 establishing the U.S. Border Patrol for the purpose of securing the borders between inspection stations from Mexico and United States.
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From figures available by the United States Department of Labor, the five Southwestern states visited have a Mexican population estimated as follows: Texas, 555,000; California, 350,000; New Mexico, 180,000; Colorado, 70,000; Arizona, 60,000. No longer, however, can it be said that the Mexicans are confined to the Southwest.
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Migrant laborers continued to arrive without papers and outside of negotiated agreements beginning the era of undocumented migration by 'irregular' migrants who worked temporarily under the threat of deportation.
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The Armed Forces Naturalization Act gives those who served in active-duty in Vietnam whie being illegal are given the privilege to become naturalized citizens.
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Attorney General is allowed to adjust the status of illegal immigrant if he/she can prove they entered the United States before January 1, 1982, and that he/she has resided continuously in the United States in an unlawful status since such date and through the date the application is filed under this subsection.
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The Immigration Act of 1990 increased the limits on legal immigration to the United States, revising all grounds for exclusion and deportation. Also authorized temporary protected status to aliens of designated countries establishing new nonimmigrant admission categories and extending the Visa Waiver Pilot Program with an addition of revising naturalization authority and requirements.
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The new amnesty program allows immigrants to adjust their status to permanent residents and become eligible for naturalization in local communities, giving opprotunities to those undocumented to access work privileges, supported fully by AFL-CIO.
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Estimated 11.8 million unauthorized immigrants have been recorded to be living within the US boundaries. Between 2000 and 2007, the immigration count increasaed a whole 3.3 million. The average annual increased roughly around 470,000, with about 7.0 million being from Mexico.
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Recently, President Obama gave a little extra time to those (illegal) 4.7 million immigrants residing within the United States who are related to or parents of American Citizens. Going against Congress and their demands, Obama granted these undocumented residents with the opprotunity to apply for any legal job and live in the American Society peacefully, without the worry of deportation.
