Jesse Morgan, left, looks on during a May Day rally Tuesday, May 1, 2012, in Atlanta. While a black preacher told a crowd of about 100 immigration activists that incarcerated blacks and detained illegal immigrants faced similar challenges, Morgan stood to one side of the May Day protesters holding a large sign that read "Radical Queers Resist. (AP Photo/David Goldman) (Photo: )
Jorge Gutierrez tells the story of how he came out as a Queer undocumented immigrant and calls for an inclusive immigration reform.
This week, I came to Washington, D.C., to witness history as I stood in front of the U.S. Supreme Court and was joined by other Queer undocumented immigrant leaders from the Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project (QUIP), a project of United We Dream (UWD), as well as hundreds of other marriage equality supporters.
As I stood in the midst of LGBTQ leaders, activists and allies in the nation’s capital, I thought back to a sunny Saturday afternoon in Santa Ana in Southern California when I first came out to my mother.
She’d just picked me up from work and we were approaching a red traffic light. My mother suddenly turned off the music in the car. I felt this dramatic silence and she gave me a serious look, asking, “Te gustan los niños o niñas?”(Do you like boys or girls?)
I thought about lying. Her question reminded me of how cruel and violent my father had been with me when I was a child in Mexico, and I was scared the right answer would turn my mother against me. But I couldn’t lie, so I said, “Me gustan los niños.”
The light finally turned green and she pulled into the closest parking lot. She turned to me and told me to get out of the car. The worst thought went through my mind—that she was about to disown me, leaving me on the side of the road in my work uniform. But I knew that by being true to myself, I was going to be okay.
She got out of the car, came to the passenger side where I was standing, and with tears falling down her face, she gave me the strongest hug in the world. She said that while she might not fully understand, we were going to get through it together.
My mother is a fierce and strong woman with only a second-grade education but with plenty of wisdom, knowledge and love.
Immigration reform should be inclusive
I’m proud to be a part of the largest immigrant-youth led movement in the country, fighting for inclusive immigration reform that wouldn’t leave anyone out—not me or my Queer brothers and sisters, not my mom or any other DREAMer’s parents.
Everyone of us who’s contributing to the country we call home, who considers ourselves American, who lives by our shared American values of opportunity, equality and compassion, deserves a chance to become a citizen. That’s what this current fight for immigration is all about.
In Spring 2011 in Memphis, Tennessee, 200 immigrant youth heard firsthand the stories of UndocuQueer leaders and as a movement, we committed to fight for the rights of the LGBTQ immigrant community.
We are developing leaders across the country and telling our UndocuQueer stories to our families, communities, legislators, and mainstream LGBTQ and immigrant rights organizations. We continue to work to broaden the narrative about immigration and to show each of the faces and lives affected by the political and legislative debate.
Any immigration reform proposal must include all of us, regardless of who we love, how we identify, where we grew up, where we work or how we look.
The Naturalization Act of 1790 was our country's first set of laws dealing with citizenship. Applicants had to be "a free white person" of "good moral character." This excluded indentured servants and slaves. Good moral character was substantiated by establishing residence for at least one year in the state from where he was applying, and at least two years of residence in the country. The Naturalization Act of 1795 would extend that requirement to five years, and is still standard today.
The Fourteenth Amendment, 1868
A Reconstruction Amendment that was added to the U.S. Constitution following the Civil War, the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment establishes for the first time that children born on U.S. soil would be conferred U.S. citizenship regardless of their parent's citizenship status, race, or place of birth. Last year, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) introduced the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2011 to Congress, and challenged this. The bill would require that at least one parent be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident for a child to be granted citizenship. According to the bill's text, the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2011 would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, and "clarify those classes of individuals born in the United States who are nationals and citizens of the United States at birth." Prior to this, Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA) introduced a similar bill in 2009.
The Naturalization Act of 1870
The Naturalization Act of 1870 explicitly extended naturalization laws to "aliens of African nativity and persons of African descent." This meant that for the first time, African-American children would be conferred citizenship upon birth. Asian immigrants and other people of color are excluded per the Naturalization Acts of 1790 and 1795.
The Page Act of 1875
Named after Republican Representative Horace F. Page, this is the first U.S. federal immigration law to explicitly prohibit the immigration of a particular group: persons of Asian descent. Primarily meant to limit Chinese immigrant labor and prostitution, the Page Act prohibited the immigration of: (1) contracted labor from "China, Japan, or any Oriental country" that was not "free and voluntary," (2) Chinese prostitution and (3) criminals and women who would engage in prostitution. Ultimately, the Page Act severely restricted the immigration of Asian women. Only 136 of the the nearly 40,000 Chinese immigrants who arrived in the months before the bill's enforcement were women. And, it would pave the way for the Chinese Exclusion Act. In this picture, Michael Lin, chair of the 1882 Project, a coalition of rights groups seeking a statement of regret over that year's Chinese Exclusion Act, speaks on May 26, 2011 in Washington, DC, at the US House of Representatives in front of a reproduction of a 19th-century sign that aimed at rousing up sentiment against Chinese Americans. Lawmakers introduced a bill that would offer an official statement of regret for the act, which banned further immigration of Chinese to the United States and ended citizenship rights for ethnic Chinese. (AFP PHOTO/SHAUN TANDON).
The Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882
Signed by President Chester A. Arthur, the Chinese Exclusion Act was the first federal immigration law to prohibit immigration on the basis of race. The bill barred all Chinese laborers, skilled and unskilled, from immigrating to the U.S. for ten years. It was made permanent by 1903, and was not lifted until the 1943 Magnuson Act. The 1898 Supreme Court decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark finally extended naturalization laws to persons of Chinese descent by ruling that anyone born in the United States was indeed a U.S. citizen. This editorial cartoon from 1882 shows a Chinese man being excluded from entry to the "Golden Gate of Liberty." The sign next to the iron door reads, "Notice--Communist, Nihilist, Socialist, Fenian & Hoodlum welcome. But no admittance to Chinamen." At the bottom, the caption reads, "THE ONLY ONE BARRED OUT. Enlightened American Statesman--'We must draw the line somewhere, you know.'" (Image Source: Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper, vol. 54 (1882 April 1), p. 96. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons).
The Naturalization Act of 1906
The Naturalization Act of 1906 further defined the naturalization process: the ability to speak English was made a requisite for immigrants to adjust their status.
The Immigration Act of 1924
U.S. President Coolidge signed this U.S. federal bill into law. It capped the number of immigrants who could be admitted entry to the U.S. and barred immigration of persons who were not eligible for naturalization. And, as the Naturalization Act of 1790 required, an immigrant had to be white in order to naturalize. The quotas varied by country. Image Source: Flickr Creative Commons, NYCMarines.
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (The McCarran-Walter Act)
The McCarran-Walter Act kept up the controversial Immigration Act of 1924, but formally ended Asian exclusion.
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
When President Lyndon Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, it abolished the quota system that favored immigration from Europe and limited immigration from Asia and South America.
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996
The 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) is a piece of legislation that defined an array of issues to do with legal and illegal immigration -- from outlining how border patrol agents should administer visa processing, to the minutiae of how to handle deportation proceedings -- IIRIRA established enforcement and patrolling practices.
Jason Fitz and Frank Schwab join forces to recap the draft in the best way they know how: letter grades! Fitz and Frank discuss all 32 teams division by division as they give a snapshot of how fans should be feeling heading into the 2024 season. The duo have key debates on the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, New Orleans Saints, Los Angeles Rams, New England Patriots, Las Vegas Raiders and more.
![Signed by President Chester A. Arthur, the <a href="http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/seven/chinxact.htm " target="_hplink">Chinese Exclusion Act</a> was the first federal immigration law to prohibit immigration on the basis of race. The bill barred all Chinese laborers, skilled and unskilled, from immigrating to the U.S. for ten years. It was made permanent by 1903, and was not lifted until the 1943 Magnuson Act. The 1898 Supreme Court <a href="http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/immigration/exclusion.html " target="_hplink">decision</a> in <em>United States v. Wong Kim Ark</em> finally extended naturalization laws to persons of Chinese descent by ruling that anyone born in the United States was indeed a U.S. citizen. This editorial cartoon from 1882 shows a Chinese man being excluded from entry to the "Golden Gate of Liberty." The sign next to the iron door reads, "Notice--Communist, Nihilist, Socialist, Fenian & Hoodlum welcome. But no admittance to Chinamen." At the bottom, the caption reads, "THE ONLY ONE BARRED OUT. Enlightened American Statesman--'We must draw the line <em>somewhere</em>, you know.'" (Image Source: Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper, vol. 54 (1882 April 1), p. 96. [Public domain], via <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_only_one_barred_out_cph.3b48680.jpg" target="_hplink">Wikimedia Commons</a>).](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/7fXkatUGJ4yoqKwCbmm0yg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MA--/https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5bae6a412200003501daf2ce.jpg)
