Mexican Immigration Dbq

After Mexico was defeated by America in 1848, Mexico made negotiations with the United States to give it ownership of California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and parts of Wyoming. Mexicans who were annexed in these states were given American citizenship with full civil rights. Blacks were granted citizenship in 1870 through another naturalization act, and along with Native Americans and blacks during the time period that the immigration quota was set by the government through the Johnson-Reed Act in 1924, Latinos did not have many problems towards naturalization. The Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 exempted Mexico from the immigration quota, and Mexicans were also not excluded from citizenship, the law deemed them as white. Under the Johnson Reed Act, Mexican immigration policy differed greatly compared to policies on Asian

The Alien Land Law Act in 1913 prohibited "aliens ineligible to citizenship" from owning or leasing land. This act was placed to Asians specifically and implies that Asians are unable to gain citizenship. There were loopholes that allowed Japanese to continue farming in California, but a 1920 ballot barred those altogether. The term "white" was ambiguous from the Naturalization Act of 1790, and with blacks gaining citizenship from the Naturalization Act of 1870, there was a possibility open for Japanese to become naturalized citizens. The Chinese had been restricted from entering America due to the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. A man named Takao Ozawa was born in Japan, and immigrated to the United States. He was an ideal citizen, and his petition to be naturalized was rejected. He took his case to the District Court, and then to the Supreme court to be rejected twice. Another similar case, Yamashita v. Hinkle, was denied as well. The Supreme Court then ruled in 1922 that the color test alone is for those who are of the Caucasian race. The term "white" was meant for Caucasians and not those of other ethnicities with white skin. People of Asian lineage were unable to naturalize because of this. Following this was the Johnson-Reed Act, where a quota on immigration was placed, only 100 Japanese were allowed for the quota in 1929. Other countries such as Ireland, Germany, Italy, and Britain, allowed thousands of people within the quota. Several other immigration laws that hindered Asian immigration into American was the 1917, which required immigrants over the age of 16 to take a reading test in any language. The act furthermore excluded anyone from entry that was born in a geographically defined area known as "Asiatic Barred Zoned" except for the Philippines and