Title: Asian immigrants
Headings: Asian immigrants
Asian immigrants
Early Asian Immigration Despite Legal Barriers
Immigration from Asia, 1850-1949
Fight Against Legal Barriers
World War II and After
Immigration from Asia, 1950-2008
Profile of Asian immigrants
Benefits from Immigration Liberalization

Content: Despite these barriers, Asian immigrants were able to make their living in America, and their children treasured their U.S. citizenship. Ethnic Asian enclaves such as Chinatowns in major cities provided comfort to many Asians in face of white hostility. Chinese and Japanese women waiting within an enclosure to be processed at the Angel Island Reception Center during the 1920’s, a period during which very few Asian immigrants were admitted to the United States. ( AP/Wide World Photos)
World War II and After
After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States reacted harshly against Japanese Americans. Executive Order 9066, signed by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, directed federal authorities to relocate from their homes on the West Coast all persons of Japanese ancestry, both aliens and U.S. citizens alike. Eventually, more than 110,000 ethnic Japanese were sent to relocation camps dispersed in remote regions of the Far West. The internment order was the infamous high water mark of anti-Asian U.S. sentiment. The Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943, as the United States and China were wartime allies. Repeal of the discriminatory law carried much symbolic weight. By 1944, internees were starting to be released from the Japanese relocation centers, which were finally closed in 1945.