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American immigration law in 1935
The
Filipino Repatriation Act
of 1935 established for
Filipino people
living in the
United States
a
repatriation
program. It provided free transportation for
Filipino residents of the continental United States
who wished to return to the
Philippines
but could not afford to do so.
[1]
Provisions
[
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The Filipino Repatriation Act provided free one-way transportation for single adults. Such grants were supplemented in some instances by private funds, such as from the California Emergency Relief Association, that paid passage for Filipino children who had been born in the United States so that they could return with their parents. Both the
Tydings?McDuffie Act
and the Filipino Repatriation Act halted
family reunification
under U.S. immigration law, forcing many Filipino families to remain separate for a number of years.
[1]
If they wished to return to the US, the Filipinos were restricted under the quota system established by the Tydings?McDuffie Act which limited the number of Filipinos entering the US to 50 per year.
History
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Along with
Guam
and
Puerto Rico
, the United States acquired the
Philippines
from
Spain
following the
Spanish?American War
in 1898 and it became
United States territory
. The
Jones Act of 1916
made it official policy to grant Philippines independence and the Tydings?McDuffie Act of 1934 laid out the timeline and process by which that would happen, with independence fully recognized in ten years. Filipino immigration to the mainland United States started soon after the Philippines became a territory.
During the late 19th and early 20th Century, many Asians and Asian-Americans faced discrimination within the United States. Though
United States nationals
, but not
United States citizens
. Filipinos were not exempt from this
nativist
sentiment, particularly on the
West Coast of the United States
. Federal and state legislation and other policies that placed limits on Asian-American economic and social lives were applied to Filipinos. The Repatriation Act served as a way to encourage Filipinos to return to the Philippines voluntarily without officially deporting them, and a way for policy makers to act towards domestic sentiment without an international incident.
[2]
The program was largely unsuccessful and transferred fewer than 2,200 Filipinos back to the Philippines, at a time when there were over 45,000 Filipinos reported in the 1930 census in the mainland United States. In the October 3, 1938 issue of
Time
, an article entitled "Philippine Flop" reported that 1,900 Filipinos had returned to the Philippines.
[3]
This failure has often been attributed to the fact that if any Filipino wished to return to the US during the tenure of this program then they would be facing an uphill battle against a quota of only 50 Filipinos allowed into the US per year.
[2]
This act was deemed unconstitutional by the
United States Supreme Court
in 1940 after 2,190 Filipinos had returned to the Philippines.
[1]
It was succeeded by the
Nationality Act of 1940
.
See also
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References
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Relevant colonial era,
United States and
international laws
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18th century
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19th century
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1900–1949
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1950–1999
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21st century
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Visas and policies
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Government
organizations
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Supreme Court cases
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Related issues
and events
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Geography
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Proposed legislation
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Immigration stations
and points of entry
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Operations
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State legislation
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Non-governmental
organizations
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Documentaries
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