Hing Quoted on Effects of 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act
Bill Ong Hing, a professor of law and legal specialist in immigration law, was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle on the long-term effects of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. "There's a long history of anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States," he said. "We have made a lot of shameful mistakes over the years about who we decide we should welcome as Americans."
May 6, 2007, is the 125th anniversary of the signing of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. In 1880, foreign-born people accounted for 13 percent of the population of the United States, yet only the Chinese were required to carry a certificate proving they were here legally or risk deportation. An exception to the Exclusion Act affording people born in China the right to enter the United States if one of their parents was American-born, led many Chinese Americans to claim non-family members as their children—known in the Chinese community as "paper sons."
Hing, who volunteered in Chinatown after law school, saw client after client with false identities because they were paper sons or descended from them, and he began to understand how much the act had affected the Chinese American community. "Then it made sense, with my parents and relatives -- why a lot of them were worried, and why I had uncles that weren't really my uncles," said Hing in the article. "You realize how this affected the community. They had to lie and cheat to get into the country, to do what is natural for many people -- to seek a better life."
Congress repealed the act in 1943, when China and the United States became allies during World War II, but large-scale Chinese immigration wasn't allowed until the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1965.
San Francisco Chronicle/May 6, 2007
Remembering 1882
May 6, 2007, is the 125th anniversary of the signing of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. In 1880, foreign-born people accounted for 13 percent of the population of the United States, yet only the Chinese were required to carry a certificate proving they were here legally or risk deportation. An exception to the Exclusion Act affording people born in China the right to enter the United States if one of their parents was American-born, led many Chinese Americans to claim non-family members as their children—known in the Chinese community as "paper sons."
Hing, who volunteered in Chinatown after law school, saw client after client with false identities because they were paper sons or descended from them, and he began to understand how much the act had affected the Chinese American community. "Then it made sense, with my parents and relatives -- why a lot of them were worried, and why I had uncles that weren't really my uncles," said Hing in the article. "You realize how this affected the community. They had to lie and cheat to get into the country, to do what is natural for many people -- to seek a better life."
Congress repealed the act in 1943, when China and the United States became allies during World War II, but large-scale Chinese immigration wasn't allowed until the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1965.
San Francisco Chronicle/May 6, 2007
Remembering 1882