How long has the U.S.A accepted refugees?
We'll look into Immigration law, The Naturalization Act of 1790, The Naturalization Law of 1802, The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International law.
Immigration law refers to national government policies controlling the immigration and deportation of people, and other matters such as citizenship. Immigration laws vary from country to country, as well as according to the political climate of the times, as sentiments may sway from the widely inclusive to the deeply exclusive of new immigrants.
Immigration law regarding the citizens of a country is regulated by international law. The United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights mandates that all countries are allowed entry to ITS OWN citizens.
Certain countries may maintain rather strict laws which regulate both the right of entry and internal rights, such as the duration of stay and the right to participate in government. Most countries have laws which designate a process for naturalization, by which foreigners may become citizens.
During the colonial period, independent colonies created their own immigration laws. The first law governing the naturalization of foreigners was the Naturalization Act of 1790 which was after the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). However the later Chinese Exclusion Act was passed to stop the immigration of Chinese people. The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and the Immigration Act of 1924 put a quota on how many immigrants were permitted, based on nationality and the numbers of persons who had emigrated in previous years. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations; in most countries, it started in 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s, the Posey War in 1923 and The Occupation of Haiti (1915–1934). The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 during the Korean War (1950–1953), led to the creation of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
The Department of Homeland Security, which replaced the Immigration and Naturalization Service, enforces immigration laws. The United States allows more than 1 million undocumented immigrants to become Legal Permanent Residents every year. The United States also issues more Visas than any other country in the world.
Visas in the United States can be broadly separated into two categories: immigrant visas, and non-immigrant visas. The former are subject to "per country-caps", whereas the latter is not. Most non-immigrant visas are for work purposes, and usually require an offer of employment from a US employer. Such immigration may involve restrictions such as a labor certification to ensure that no American workers are able to fill the role of the job. Other categories include student, family and tourist visas. Each visa category is further divided into numerous subcategories; the large number of specific categories has been recommended as a main area for comprehensive immigration reform.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 16 December 1966 when we had the Dominican Civil War (1965–1966) and the Vietnam War (1965–1973, 1975), and enforced from 23 March 1976 which was midway of the Communist insurgency in Thailand Conflict (1965–1983). It commits its parties to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, electoral rights and rights to due process and a fair trial. As of April 2014 the same time as the War on ISIL (Operation Inherent Resolve)(2014–present), the Covenant has 74 signatories and 168 parties.
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict. At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are now 193. The headquarters of the United Nations is in Manhattan, New York City, and experiences extraterritoriality.
Extraterritoriality, is the state of being exempted from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Historically, this applied to individuals. Extraterritoriality can also be applied to physical places, such as foreign embassies, military bases, foreign countries, or offices of the United Nations. The three most common cases recognized today internationally relate to the persons and belongings of foreign heads of state, the persons and belongings of ambassadors and other diplomats, and ships in foreign waters.
Extraterritoriality is often extended to friendly or allied militaries, particularly for the purposes of allowing that military to simply pass through one's territory.
It is distinguished from personal jurisdiction in the sense that extraterritoriality operates to the prejudice of local jurisdiction.
The ICCPR is part of the International Bill of Human Rights, along with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
The ICCPR is monitored by the United Nations Human Rights Committee (a separate body to the United Nations Human Rights Council), which reviews regular reports of States parties on how the rights are being implemented. States must report initially one year after acceding to the Covenant and then whenever the Committee requests (usually every four years). The Committee normally meets in Geneva and normally holds three sessions per year.
The original United States Naturalization Law of March 26, 1790 (1 Stat. 103) provided the first rules to be followed by the United States in the granting of national citizenship. This law limited naturalization to immigrants who were free white persons of good character. It thus excluded American Indians, indentured servants, slaves, free blacks, and later Asians. It also provided for citizenship for the children of U.S. citizens born abroad, stating that such children "shall be considered as natural born citizens," the only US statute ever to use the term. It specified that the right of citizenship did "not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States."
In order to address one's good character, the law required two years of residence in the United States and one year in the state of residence, prior to applying for citizenship. When those requirements were met, an immigrant could file a Petition for Naturalization with "any common law court of record" having jurisdiction over his residence. Once convinced of the applicant’s good moral character, the court would administer an oath of allegiance to support the Constitution of the United States. The clerk of the court was to make a record of these proceedings, and "thereupon such person shall be considered as a citizen of the United States."
The United States Congress passed the Naturalization Law of 1802 on April 14, 1802, that directed the clerk of the court to record the entry of all aliens into the United States. The clerk collected information, including the applicant's name, birthplace, age, nation of allegiance, country of emigration, and place of intended settlement, and granted each applicant a certificate that could be exhibited to the court as evidence of time of arrival in the United States. This act repealed the Naturalization Act of 1798.
Certain doubts had arisen as to whether State and local courts were included within the description of U.S. district or circuit courts. The act of 1802 reaffirmed that every State and Territorial court was considered a district court within the meaning of the laws pertaining to naturalization, and that any persons naturalized in such courts were accorded the same rights and privileges as if they had been naturalized in a district or circuit court of the United States.
The act of 1802 was the last major piece of naturalization legislation during the 19th century. A number of minor revisions were introduced, but these merely altered or clarified details of evidence and certification without changing the basic nature of the admission procedure. The most important of these revisions occurred in 1855 during the Yakima War (1855–1858) in the Washington Territory, when citizenship was automatically granted to alien wives of U.S. citizens, and in 1870, when the naturalization process was opened "to persons of African descent".
The Act also establishes the United States citizenship of certain children of citizens, born abroad, without the need for naturalization: "the children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond Sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born Citizens: provided, That the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States".
International law is the set of rules generally regarded and accepted as binding in relations between states and between nations. It serves as a framework for the practice of stable and organized international relations. International law differs from state-based legal systems in that it is primarily applicable to countries rather than to private citizens. National law may become international law when treaties delegate national jurisdiction to supranational tribunals such as the European Court of Human Rights or the International Criminal Court. Treaties such as the Geneva Conventions may require national law to conform to respective parts.
Much of international law is consent-based governance. This means that a state member is not obliged to abide by this type of international law, unless it has expressly consented to a particular course of conduct. This is an issue of state sovereignty. However, other aspects of international law are not consent-based but still are obligatory upon state and non-state actors such as customary international law and peremptory norms
Refugee law is the branch of international law which deals with the rights and protection of refugees. There are differences of opinion among international law scholars as to the relationship between refugee law and international human rights law or humanitarian law. The discussion forms part of a larger discussion on fragmentation of international law. While some scholars conceive each branch as a self-contained regime distinct from other branches, others regard the three branches as forming a larger normative system that seeks to protect the rights of all human beings at all time. The proponents of the latter conception view this holistic regime as including norms only applicable to certain situations such as armed conflict and military occupation (IHL) or to certain groups of people including refugees (refugee law), children (the Convention on the Rights of the Child), and prisoners of war (the 1949 Geneva Convention III).
Refugee law encompasses both customary law, peremptory norms, and international legal instruments.
The only international instruments directly applying to refugees are the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. Both the Convention and the Protocol are open to states, but each may be signed separately. 145 states have ratified the Convention, and 146 have ratified the Protocol. These instruments only apply in the countries that have ratified an instrument, and some countries have ratified these instruments subject to various reservations.
Various regional bodies have also agreed to regional instruments, which applying only to member states.
Under international law, a refugee is a person who has fled his or her own country of nationality or habitual residence, and cannot return due to fear of persecution on account of his or her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, and is unable or unwilling to avail themself of the protection of that country, or to return there, for fear of persecution. These recent migration movements are caused by a variety of reasons. Some of the refugees stay in refugee camps, some are urban refugees in individual accommodations, some stay in self-settled camps and for some refugees the location is undefined or unknown by UNHCR.
So, how long has the U.S.A been importing people?
By the historical calendar countries create wars and conflicts to move people around. Moving large numbers of people into a country is the same thing as adding gas to the car, go to work go to sleep and maybe we'll let you eat and have a roof. Just another cog in the machine. But what happens to the countries they're from? No one left to help their own country. And if they are that quick to abandon that one, what do you think they'll do to this one?
Watch this video on what happens to the countries involved on both sides of immigration
Source: Immigration law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_law
Naturalization Act of 1790 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalization_Act_of_1790
Naturalization Law of 1802 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalization_Law_of_1802
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
International law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_law