Billings: Oriental Immigration 



463 



conditions as have so far existed in the 

 United States the Oeeidental exhibits 

 no tendency to intermarry with the 

 Oriental and that laek of incHnation 

 seems to be entirely mutual. 



The administration of the immigra- 

 tion laws at CaHfornia ports is sup- 

 posedly the same as at all ports of 

 entry located wherever they may be, 

 with the addition of the Chinese 

 exclusion law. Naturally the last 

 named law applies at certain other 

 places, but it is at those ports situated 

 upon the Pacific coast that the oppor- 

 tunity, or necessity, for its greater 

 scope exists. 



The expression "ports of entry" 

 used in an immigration sense must not 

 necessarily be connected in one's mind 

 with seaboard cities alone, — it means 

 any place where the Immigration Service 

 has its ofiEicers regularly located, and 

 may be a thousand miles from the coast. 

 There are, for instance, sixty-five places 

 stretched along the Canadian border 

 through any of which aliens may law- 

 fully enter the United States provided 

 they present clearly their eligibility 

 to do so, and twenty-five of these 

 places have what are called "boards of 

 special inquiry" for the consideration 

 of those cases in which the right to 

 land, under the immigration laws, is 

 not clearly established. On the Mexi- 

 can border thirteen ports of entry are 

 located. 



All ports of entry consider the 

 application for entry to our country of 

 all aliens, from any country whatever, 

 with the one exception of Chinese, 

 while certain cities are designated as 

 Chinese ports of entry and any Chinese 

 not entering through one of them is 

 surreptitiously in the United States; 

 these places are San Francisco and San 

 Diego, Cal. ; Portland, Ore. ; Boston, 

 Mass.; New York, N. Y.; New Orleans, 

 La. ; Port Townsend and Seattle, Wash. ; 

 Tampa, Fla. ; Honolulu, Hawaii and 

 San Juan and Ponce, P. R. 



In considering the administration 

 of the Immigration Laws at California 

 ports we have then to consider vSan 

 Francisco, San Diego, Andrane, Campo, 

 Calexico and Tia Juana, and to bear in 

 mind that while there are two laws, one 



called the Immigration Law and the 

 other the Chinese Exclusion Law, they 

 both, from any Ijut an official stand- 

 point, are alike in their aim and result, 

 namely, the keeping of undesirable 

 ahens out of the United States. 



The immigration to California jjorts 

 is, broadly speaking, entirely Oriental, 

 consisting of Japanese, Chinese, Koreans 

 and Hindus, the number of arriving 

 aliens of Occidental lineage being so 

 small that for the purposes of this ]ja]:)er 

 they may be disregarded. 



AH aliens, including of course Ori- 

 entals, have to comply with the general 

 requirements of the immigration laws, 

 but in a certain sense the arrivals at 

 California ports have to go somewhat 

 farther in that the Chinese have to meet 

 the restrictions of the Chinese Exclusion 

 Law, while our Government has an 

 agreement with the Japanese governmet 

 regarding a certain type of Japanese 

 immigrant. 



EVOLUTION OF THE LAWS 



The immigration laws of our country 

 have evolved gradually and changes 

 have been made from time to time in 

 order that they may meet conditions 

 not existing, or not realized, at the 

 time of their framing. To the organic 

 laws must be added such interpretations 

 and constructions of them as have been 

 made by various departmental ofificials 

 and the resulting total presents at 

 times a rather difficult and intricate 

 executive problem, especially if it be 

 borne in mind that the humanitarian 

 aspect is a factor that cannot, and 

 should not, be overlooked, because in 

 the application of these laws we are 

 not deciding something concerning in- 

 animate chattels but are dealing with 

 human beings who have done no wrong 

 and whose hopes and fears and aspira- 

 tions are the same as ours. 



The first immigration act was ap- 

 proved March 3. 1875, and the last 

 March 4, 1913. Between the two there 

 have been eighteen acts amending, 

 either by elimination or addition, some 

 portion of acts previously passed. The 

 law as it stands today consists, we may 

 say for the sake of clearness, of two 

 portions — namely, the portion bearing 



