Indeed, with the exception of Native Americans, everyone in our nation is either an immigrant, or the descendent of voluntary or involuntary immigrants.

—The Rights of Immigrants Briefing Paper, Immigrants’
Rights Project, American Civil Liberties Union

Since the founding of this country, immigrants from every continent have settled in the United States. In the early years, immigrants came largely from the British Isles and Northern and Southern Europe. Some came as forced immigrants—indentured servants from Europe, enslaved peoples from Africa, and contract laborers from China and Japan. Others came voluntarily, seeking new opportunities and change. During the Mexican-American War in 1846-47, Mexico lost nearly one-third of its territory to the United States, and native Latinos found themselves immigrants and foreigners in what was once their own land. More recently, people from Asia, Central America, and the Caribbean have fled war and economic stagnation to seek greater stability in the United States. Since the waning years of the Cold War, political and religious refugees from the former Soviet Union countries have arrived seeking relief from persecution.

Although many immigrants who came of their own will sought an escape from political, economic, and societal turmoil, many also chose to immigrate to realize the opportunities and promises America held. In A Different Mirror, Ronald Takaki gives an account of a young Japanese man who, after calculating the equivalence of the annual savings of a laborer in America to a governor’s income in Japan, pleaded with his parents, "By all means let me go to America." In Russia, Takaki tells how "the cry ‘To America!’ roared like wild-fire." Similarly, Mexican immigrants choosing America as a home in the early twentieth century also often sought opportunity and additional means to support their families.

Immigrants of all descents, regardless of their reasons for immigrating, have contributed to the rapid economic development and growth of the United States. In the 1800s these immigrants accepted jobs in industries that did not have a sufficient workforce from which to draw. Irish, Japanese, Latino, and Chinese immigrants laid the rails and ties that built a continental railroad, one of the symbols of America’s industrial success. Others were responsible for unprecedented contributions to various fields of study and played numerous roles in influencing America’s cultural landscape. One of the most well-known of these immigrants is Albert Einstein, but others include social activist Marcus Garvey, inventor Alexander Graham Bell, labor leader Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, and songwriter Irving Berlin, to name a few.

Likewise, immigrants settling in the United States today arrive for differing reasons and continue to contribute to further growth. Many people often assume that contemporary immigrants pose a burden on the economy and decrease opportunity in the labor market. In reality, immigrants create new jobs and income streams through forming new businesses, paying taxes, and increasing labor productivity. Immigrants pay significantly more in taxes each year than they receive in governmental welfare assistance. Further, immigrants and their children contribute leadership and advancement in the political sphere, in academics and the arts, and in science and technology. Consider statesman Henry Kissinger, Surgeon General Antonia Novello, astronaut Ellen Ochoa, ballet dancer Mikail Baryshnikov, film director Alfred Hitchcock, social scientist Kurt Lewin, writer Amy Tan, and educator Jaime Escalante.

Just as contributors and leaders in the development of the United States are descendants of former immigrants, descendants of indigenous Americans, or immigrants themselves, children entering U.S. schools today will also play such roles in the nation’s future. Currently, one in 15 schoolchildren is born outside of the United States, and one in seven speaks a language other than English at home. The present system, however, is failing to successfully meet the needs of a significant portion of this population; whereas one-tenth of non-Latino White children leave school without a diploma, two-thirds of all immigrant students ultimately find themselves in this same situation.

These outcomes, as well as immigrant students’ wide diversity of experiences, require that educators develop skills and knowledge necessary to ensure student success in new school settings. Educators are responsible for becoming aware of and countering particular stereotypes that immigrant youth may face during and after school hours. They must develop and use assessments that both reflect high expectations and evaluate progress on an individual basis. They must develop skills in cross-cultural understanding and communication in order to create effective, nurturing learning environments. If today’s youth are to succeed, learning environments must meet the individual needs of each student, including those who may be grappling with the acquisition of unfamiliar cultural practices. They must simultaneously build upon each student’s respective strengths, knowledge, and cultural identity.

Over the course of United States history, the descendants of former immigrants have reacted with mixed emotions both to contemporary immigrants and to the formation of national immigration policies. From the time America established national independence to the late 19th century, immigration patterns were relatively unrestricted by national laws. Immigrants during this period came largely from Northern Europe and were in many ways encouraged to settle in the rapidly expanding nation.

While immigration rates remained low during the beginning of the 19th century, rates grew significantly during the 1830s and 1840s. These decades brought a majority of immigrants from Ireland and Germany. The immigrant population, approximately four million in 1790, grew to an estimated 32 million by 1860.

Concurrent and marked changes also occurred in United States immigration policy during these final years of the 19th century. In 1882, the first policy excluding immigration of an entire population on the basis of national origin was signed into law. The Chinese Exclusion Act sought to suspend immigration by Chinese laborers for 10 years and ultimately led to a permanent ban in 1902.

The turn of the century was characterized by rapid urbanization and industrialization as well as by a substantial increase in overall population. By 1907, the immigration rate peaked as approximately 1.3 million immigrants entered the United States and in that one year accounted for a 3 percent increase in the U.S. labor force. During this year, the U.S. government also entered into an agreement with Japan that effectively excluded Japanese laborers from immigrating or traveling to the continental United States. Immigration of Japanese laborers to Hawaii, however, was not precluded by this agreement.

Public attention began to focus on perceived differences between "old" and "new" immigrants, including differences in poverty levels, crime rates, and cultural characteristics. A federal study was published reporting sharp contrasts between these two immigrant populations. The findings contributed to a government movement to "Americanize" newer immigrants, primarily Eastern and Southern Europeans. The U.S. Bureau of Americanization urged that employers require English-language instruction for foreign-born workers. Many states banned schooling in native languages, and some prohibited foreign language programs of any kind in the elementary grades.

The IIRIRA seeks to prohibit illegal immigration through the tightening of U.S. borders, new methods for screening and verifying documented status, and strict guidelines concerning deportation of immigrants residing illegally in the United States. Specifically, the bill calls for an expedient and substantial increase in the number of border patrol agents. New border crossing identification cards are to be issued prior to the year 2000 to track the entry and exit of certain travelers born outside the United States. New "summary removal procedures" significantly alter the rights of those suspected of illegal immigrant status by granting INS officers the authority to deport immigrants without any judicial involvement. Even refugees seeking asylum, who are technically considered the only exception to this provision, are being denied access to the United States as a result of decreased reliance on judicial oversight and review.

This legislation affects documented immigrants by imposing greater restrictions on the process that enables family members residing in other countries to relocate and join family members residing legally within the United States. A legal immigrant must now demonstrate sufficient income to support additional family members and must earn at minimum an income 125 percent above the federal poverty level. As a result of recent welfare laws, many legal immigrants are also faced with the loss of government benefits until the time they are able to attain citizenship status. The chart on the following page summarizes by decade major actions affecting U.S. immigration.

Decade	Percent Immigrant Population	Major Actions
1790	N/A	Naturalization authorized for "free white persons" who swear loyalty to the Constitution The Alien and Sedition Acts allow deportation of dangerous foreigners
1880	8.3	The Chinese Exclusion Act suspends entry of Chinese laborers
1890	4.9	Exclusions include polygamists, those with contagious diseases, and those convicted of morals crimes.
1900	9.6	Adoption of ability to speak and understand English requirement Permanent ban of Chinese immigrants "Gentlemen’s Agreement" with Japan: United States doesn’t ban Japanese immigration; Japan pledges not to issue passports to Japanese Laborers Executive Order bans Japanese migration from Hawaii to mainland.
1910	5.4	Congress enacts literacy requirement for all new immigrants; designates Asia as a "barred zone" (except Japan and the Philippines)
1920	3.3	National-origin quota system instituted, in effect favoring Northern Europeans Johnson-Reed Act bases quotas on ethnic makeup of U.S. population
1940	.7	Token quota (105) created for Chinese to appease war-time ally
1950	1.4	Internal Security Act bars admission to those considered dangerous to the welfare or safety of United States. McCarran-Walter Act sets up minimum annual quotas for all countries, allowing for the immigration of new groups; ability to read, write, speak, and understand English now required
1960	1.6	Racial criteria finally eliminated from laws; each country receives an annual quota regardless of ethnicity
1980	2.9	Immigration Reform and Control Act provides amnesty for millions of undocumented residents; employers sanctioned for first time
1990	2.3	Immigration Act of 1990 raises limit for legal immigration to 700,000/year; in 1996, border enforcement toughened and asylum made more difficult; citizenship required for most immigrants to receive public benefits

Additional Information for this chart from "Immigration Facts," by James Crawford, 1997, National Immigration Forum. Available online at http://www.immigrationforum.org/chronolo.htm.

Because of the nature of these new laws and frequent changes in policy mandates, national immigration advocacy organizations note augmented fear, uncertainty, and confusion in many immigrant communities. Proposition 187, passed in 1994 by California voters, called for a complete prohibition of education, health, and social services to undocumented immigrants. Though voted into law, the measure was blocked by a court injunction and, in November 1997, deemed unconstitutional by a federal court judge. A bill denying education services to undocumented immigrant children was also recently proposed by the U.S. Congress, but never passed.

It is in this climate of uncertainty and renewed anti-immigrant sentiment that educators must carry out their commitment to provide high-quality, equitable education for all students. Improving Education for Immigrant Students seeks to help educators understand and overcome this negative climate. It serves as a beginning point for increasing our understanding of the immigrant experience and for better serving the immigrant students entering our schools.

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