By: Monica Peralez
Timeline
1790 – The Naturalization Act of 1790 was the United States’ first set of laws dealing with citizenship and made it possible for aliens to voluntarily become American citizens.1
1848 – The California Gold Rush cued for the first major immigration of Latinos to the U.S. 2
1924 – The Immigration Act of 1924 limited immigration into the U.S. through a national origins quota. This resulted in attempts from people around the world to try and gain illegal entry. The law gave U.S. Border Patrol more attention from the government.3
2001 – The DREAM Act is a legislative proposition first proposed in the Senate August 1, 2001. It gives illegal immigrants the opportunity to gain citizenship as long as they arrived to the U.S. before the age of 16, are enrolled in school or have a high school diploma, have lived here for at least 5 years and have not committed any serious crimes. 4
2009 – According to the US Census Bureau one in five U.S. residents are first or second generation immigrants. 36.7 million immigrants of U.S. population are foreign born and 33 million are native born. This data shows we actually do live in a country made up of immigrants. 5
2010 – The Arizona Legislature approved Arizona’s SB 1070 Immigration Law on April 19, 2010. The law states that authorities are required to check the immigration status of people they suspect are illegal. Many people classified this as racial profiling. 6
2010 – According to the US Census, the calculated Hispanic population in the U.S. in 2000 was 35.3 million and has increased to 50.5 million.7
2011– The rate of high school dropouts has decreased in Hispanics from 32 percent to 14 percent. The gap between Whites and Hispanics decreased from 23 percent to 9 percent from 1990-2011. This shows how Hispanics are becoming more educated as years pass.8
2012 – President Obama signed DACA, also known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals in 2012. The legislation states the government will not deport children of illegal immigrants under the same criteria as the DREAM Act. DACA allows these illegal residents to obtain a driver’s license, social security number, 2-year work authorization, and an equal opportunity for education. 9
2050 – According to the US Census Bureau, by 2050, the U.S. Hispanic population is predicted to reach 132.8 million. The Hispanic population will continue to flourish and become assimilated to U.S. culture.10
1 National Archives – Naturalization Records http://www.archives.gov/research/naturalization/naturalization.html
2 National Park Service – American Latino Theme Study http://www.nps.gov/latino/latinothemestudy/immigration.htm
3 U.S. Department of Homeland Security – Border Patrol History http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/border_security/border_patrol/border_patrol_ohs/history.xml
4 The White House Blog – Get the Facts On The DREAM Act http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/12/01/get-facts-dream-act
5 US Census Bureau – US Department of Commerce – Nation’s Foreign Born Population Nears 37 Million https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/foreignborn_population/cb10-159.html
6 State of Arizona – Senate Bill 1070 http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf
7 US Census Bureau – The Hispanic Population 2010 http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-04.pdf
8 National Center for Education Statistics – Fast Facts – Dropout Rates https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=16
9 The White House Blog – One Year Anniversary of the Implementation of Deferred Action Policy for DREAMers; http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/08/15/one-year-anniversary-implementation-deferred-action-policy-dreamers
10 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Hispanic or Latino populations http://www.cdc.gov/minorityhealth/populations/REMP/hispanic.html