Former President Donald Trump is back in the game! He won the 2024 U.S. elections and will be back in the White House come January 2025. You may have seen the viral video where Trump passionately declared that 'millions and millions of immigrants are sneaking into the U.S. and—brace yourselves—eating people’s dogs, cats, and other pets! Yes, really. According to him, America is turning into some bizarre pet-eating buffet, and he’s here to save the day.
Trump went on to promise that he’ll round up these so-called pet-eating immigrants and ship them back home. It was bold, it was dramatic, and apparently, it worked because a lot of Americans decided, “Yep, this is our guy!”
Now, whether Americans genuinely believe their pets are at risk is anyone’s guess. But many do think illegal immigrants are stealing their jobs. The logic? If you can’t find a job, blame someone else! Of course, Trump’s grand plan to build a huge wall or pack immigrants onto planes and send them away sounds like something out of a comic book. But guess what? This isn’t the first time America’s played the “you’re not invited” card. For over 70 years, they pretty much said, “Nope, no entry!” to anyone who wasn’t a white European. It was only a few decades ago they decided, “Alright, fine. People from China, India, the Middle East, Africa, or South America can join the party too.” But even now, it seems like some Americans are itching to shut that door again.
So here’s the lesson: politics can be wild, and America’s history with immigration is a bit like a seesaw—up, down, and always unpredictable.
Every week on The Lighter Side, I pick one news story that leaves me either scratching my head or chuckling in disbelief. This week’s piece takes a quick trip down memory lane to see how the U.S. of the 1880s looks suspiciously similar to the U.S. of today. Spoiler alert: it’s like looking at a grumpy old mirror.
Back then, white workers—or as they proudly called themselves, “real Americans”—were struggling to find jobs. Instead of asking why jobs were scarce, they decided it was all the immigrants’ fault. You know, because blaming someone else is much easier than fixing the actual problem. Soon enough, they convinced their President to slam the brakes on immigration, shutting the doors to non-whites. Problem solved, right? Wrong. Turns out, shutting the doors didn’t magically fix anything. Businesses started to struggle, growth slowed down, and the economy took a hit.
So, dear readers, enjoy this little stroll through history, starting in the Wild West of the 1850s, where the tumbleweeds weren’t the only thing stuck in a loop. Will America learn from its past or keep hitting replay?
The Chinese arrived in California during the Gold Rush
In 1848, a carpenter building a sawmill in California discovered gold flakes floating in the American River. News of this discovery spread, attracting thousands of Americans from across the country to California in search of fortune. Mining for gold, however, was gruelling work, requiring relentless digging and effort.
Chinese labourers in distant China heard about this opportunity, boarded ships, and sailed to the shores of California, where many found work in the gold mines. Most were employed in the tedious and labor-intensive tasks of mining and digging. Before long, more Chinese migrants arrived—not just to mine for gold but also to establish businesses like restaurants, hotels, and laundries. For a time, California seemed like one big, happy family.
However, tensions soon began to surface. Gold mine owners preferred hiring Chinese workers because they were willing to work longer hours for lower wages. This created resentment among local white labourers, who refused to accept such poor working conditions. As the number of Chinese labourers grew, many white Americans found themselves out of work, and their frustration with the Chinese community intensified. On occasion, mobs hurled stones at Chinese restaurants, surrounded workers, and physically attacked them. Local government officials turned a blind eye to the plight of Chinese workers, as they were elected by white Americans, not by the Chinese.
Soon, even the law became hostile to the Chinese. In one infamous case, a white man who had murdered a Chinese worker was acquitted because there were no "valid" eyewitnesses. Although a Chinese man had witnessed the crime, the court ruled that the testimony of a Chinese person held no legal weight. Despite such injustices and harassment, many Chinese workers endured these conditions because their lives and earnings in California were still better than what they had left behind in China. Silently, they continued their work.
When the Gold Rush ended, another opportunity emerged: railroad construction. Chinese labourers played a critical role in building America’s vast railroad network. Once again, their industriousness and willingness to work under harsh conditions created tensions with white labourers. Anti-Chinese sentiment deepened, driven by the belief that Chinese people were racially inferior and that their culture and work ethic threatened white Americans.
Violence against Chinese residents escalated. Entire Chinatowns were destroyed by mobs. The situation reached a breaking point in 1882, when the U.S. government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited Chinese immigration. This marked the first time the U.S. restricted immigration based on nationality. Over the next few decades, the U.S. adopted an increasingly antagonistic stance toward migrant labourers. In 1917, the Immigration Act, also known as the Barred Zone Act, was passed, prohibiting labourers from nearly all of Asia, including India, from entering the country.
1965: The doors opened again
This anti-immigration policy, rooted in racial discrimination, persisted for many years. At the end of the Second World War, the US decided to reopen its doors to Indians. The Luce–Celler Act of 1946 permitted a quota of 100 Indians per year to immigrate to the U.S. Then came the McCarran-Walter Act - which repealed the Barred Zone Act of 1917, but limited immigration from the former Barred Zone to a total of 2,000 per year.
It was only in 1965 that the U.S. reformed its immigration laws substantially, opening its borders to Asians. From 1965 until the mid-1990s, immigration from India averaged about 40,000 people per year. From 1995 onward, the flow of Indian immigration increased significantly, reaching a high of about 90,000 immigrants in the year 2000.
The economic growth of the United States was, quite conveniently, powered by the brilliant talent it managed to magnetize from every corner of the globe. Visionaries in science and technology flocked to America, bringing with them ideas, innovation, and an almost annoying habit of succeeding spectacularly. They built some of the finest businesses—giants of technology and otherwise—and, as if that wasn’t enough, they created millions of jobs for the locals who, presumably, had other things to do at the time.
The United States, as we know it today—a country where Indians and other Asians can freely arrive to work, study, live, or even snap selfies at Disneyland—has not always been this welcoming utopia. No, this dreamland has only existed for a smidge over 60 years, a blink of an eye in the grand timeline of human history.
Now, having skimmed this little nugget of history, one must wonder: could we be on the brink of another round of shutting the golden door, only to regret it later when the next wave of global geniuses sets their sights elsewhere? Or will history, as it often does, repeat itself with a sardonic chuckle?
Our children’s magazine - Lighter Side’s ‘Bag of Tales - 2024’ is out!
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If you know friends aged 7+ who adore reading, this makes the perfect gift to brighten their day. Let’s make story-time extra special this year! 🌟📚