Magnuson Act: Difference between revisions

The '''Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act of 1943''', also known as the '''Magnuson Act,''' was an [[Immigration to the United States|immigration]] law proposed by U.S. Representative (later Senator) [[Warren G. Magnuson]] of [[Washington (state)|Washington]] and signed into law on December 17, 1943, in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Peters|first=Peters|last2=Woolley|first2=John T.|title=Franklin D. Roosevelt: "Statement on Signing the Bill to Repeal the Chinese Exclusion Laws.," December 17, 1943|url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/statement-signing-the-bill-repeal-the-chinese-exclusion-laws|work=The American Presidency Project|publisher=University of California - Santa Barbara}}</ref> It allowed [[History of Chinese Americans|Chinese immigration]] for the first time since the [[Chinese Exclusion Act (United States)|Chinese Exclusion Act]] of 1882, and permitted some Chinese immigrants already residing in the country to become [[Citizenship of the United States#Naturalized citizenship|naturalized citizens]]. However, the Magnuson Act provided for the continuation of the ban against the ownership of property and businesses by ethnic Chinese. In many states, Chinese Americans (including US citizens) were denied property-ownership rights either [[De jure|by law]] or ''[[de facto]]'' until the Magnuson Act itself was [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965|fully repealed]] in 1965.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.jacl.org/public_policy/documents/An%20Unnoticed%20Struggle.pdf | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100613102647/http://jacl.org/public_policy/documents/An%20Unnoticed%20Struggle.pdf | archive-date=2010-06-13 | title= An Unnoticed Struggle | year= 2008| publisher= [[Japanese American Citizens League]]|access-date=2014-02-05}}</ref>

The Magnuson Act was passed on December 17, 1943, two years after the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] became an official [[allies of World War II|allied]] nation of the United States in [[World War II]]. Although considered a positive development by many, it was particularly restrictive of Chinese immigrants, limiting them to an annual quota of 105 new [[Travel visa|entry visas]]. The quota was supposedly determined by the [[Immigration Act of 1924]], which set immigration from qualifying countries at 2% of the number of people who were already living in the United States in 1890 of that nationality. However, the arrived-at number of 105 per annum granted to the Chinese was disproportionately low. (The quota should have been 2,150 per annum, as official census figures place the population of ethnic Chinese living in the US in 1890 at 107,488 persons.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.udel.edu/readhistory/resources/2005_2006/summer_06/hsu.pdf| title= Comparison of Asian Populations during the Exclusion Years| access-date=2014-02-05}}</ref>) Regardless of the method of calculation, the number of Chinese immigrants allowed into the USA was disproportionately low in ratio to the sanctioned immigration of other nationalities and ethnicities.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Chinese in America |first=Iris |last=Chang |year=2003 |location=New York |publisher=Viking |isbn=0-670-03123-2 }}{{page needed|date=July 2016}}</ref> Chinese immigration later increased with the passage of the [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952]], which abolished direct racial barriers and later by the [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965]], which abolished the [[National Origins Formula]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://immigrants.harpweek.com/chineseamericans/1Introduction/BillWeiIntro.htm |title=The Chinese-American Experience: An Introduction |publisher=HarpWeek |access-date=2014-02-05 |first1=William |last1=Wei |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140126021457/http://immigrants.harpweek.com/ChineseAmericans/1Introduction/BillWeiIntro.htm |archive-date=2014-01-26 }}</ref>

[[Category:December 1943 events]]