Enforcing the Chinese Exclusion Laws, 1882-1907: Administrative Discretion and Law's Contradictions

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Abstract Calavita 9707024 This research undertakes ethnohistorical analyses focusing on issues surrounding the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act barring the entry into the U.S. of all Chinese laborers. Merchants and other upper-class individuals were exempt from the exclusion. The primary focus of the research is on the conflicts encountered by enforcement personnel who had to implement the Law. Ambiguities in the Act and gaps in the statute plus the inspectors' preconceptions converged to make the task discretionary. The omission of any mention of the status of women, assumptions about race as a biological state, offset by social status, notions about the relation between physical appearance and one's identity, and the clash between identity and social constructions all converge in this project. Data from the Congressional Record, Congressional Hearings and Reports, and the Annual Reports of the Immigration and Naturalization Service provide information on the enforcement of the exclusion laws and on intra-agency decisionmaking as well as the official records of the law's enactment. Documentation from letters, notes, memos, and circulars from and to immigration inspectors and their supervisors will comprise an additional primary source of data.. conflicts and dilemmas surrounding the enforcement of the Law and will provide insights into current conceptions of race, and the intersections of race, class, and gender. This work contributes to our basic understanding of the enforcement of legal rules. %%% This research undertakes ethnohistorical analyses focusing on issues surrounding the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act barring the entry into the U.S. of all Chinese laborers. Merchants and other upper-class individuals were exempt from the exclusion. The primary focus of the research is on the conflicts encountered by enforcement personnel who had to implement the Law. Ambiguities in the Act and gaps in the statute plus the inspectors' preconceptions converged to make the task discretionary. The omission of any mention of the status of women, assumptions about race as a biological state, offset by social status, notions about the relation between physical appearance and one's identity, and the clash between identity and social constructions all converge in this project. Data from the Congressional Record, Congressional Hearings and Reports, and the Annual Reports of the Immigration and Naturalization Service provide information on the enforcement of the exclusion laws and on intra-agency decisionmaking as well as the official records of the law's enactment. Documentation from letters, notes, memos, and circulars from and to immigration inspectors and their supervisors will comprise an additional primary source of data.. conflicts and dilemmas surrounding the enforcement of the Law and will provide insights into current conceptions of race, and the intersections of race, class, and gender. This work contributes to our basic understanding of the enforcement of legal rules. ***