Tying Research Up

Process

This project has come a very long way, from an overly thorough, optimistic undertaken of immigration patters, to a project that has been repeatedly mismanaged and interrupted, finally to a microcosmic examination of Persian Immigration, specifically that of the Baha’i religion. Despite the thorough personal and academic setbacks I have found some interesting data regarding California politicians and their support for anti-discrimination legislation that would protect Iranian immigrants. While this and the following source work has been obtained through lengthy and painstaking online archive sifting, no further mention will be made to process this post.

Analysis

In comparison with waves of Latin American, Asian American and European American immigrants, the Middle Eastern immigrant population is given little to no time in secondary sources nationally and are even more difficult to find in regards to California. Searching through Roger Daniels Guarding the Golden Door: American Immigration Policy and Immigrants since 1882 in hopes of attaching some of the statistics that I have found to some trends that he expresses in the work. Though it took some serious thinking and historical analysis, success was eventually achieved! American immigration can be explained very simply by a line graph because the peaks and valleys associated with immigration are usually directly connected to some sort of legislative reform or another. Immigration reached its contemporary peak in the 1980’s where more than one million immigrants arrived (Daniels, 215). Why is this important to our study of Middle Eastern immigration? The answer is simple, “Cuban boat lifts” or American foreign policy that supported the defection of Cubans to Florida, and the fact that in 1980 over 70% of the immigrants that came to the United States were from Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia (Visa Vie the Vietnam War) it is not hard to believe that a culturally, religiously and politically unpopular region such as the Middle East and its refugees were completely overlooked by media outlets and historical scholars (Daniels, 215). However, brushing off the reluctance of the academic and journalistic worlds to cover such a valid and humane topic would be hasty. The effects of the 1980 Refugee Act that went a long way to protect international displaced persons, including those from Iran and other Middle Eastern countries, allowed so many immigrants into the United States who were fleeing persecution in many forms that the smaller groups that immigrated to the United States were left without any historical secondary care.
For the sake of historical analysis, from 1971-1980 The United States allowed in 539,447 refugees according the statistics given by Daniels. The United States Department of Homeland Security says that 4,493,314 immigrants were allowed into the United States during that time period, 45,136 of which were Iranian immigrants. A little over one percent of immigrants that arrived in the U.S. during that decade were from Iran. Certainly this shows that despite the large numbers of refugees admitted along side common immigrants there was no substantial spike in overall Iranian immigration.
However, the end of the 1970’s was a tremendously trying time for U.S.-Middle East/Islamic diplomacy. The oil embargo that had just concluded when Regan took office had greatly damaged the countries foreign relations with the lone hegemon, the U.S. This could account for all sides avoiding immigration or emigration from each other’s population. This is all despite the United States’ humanitarian mission to assist refugees. Therefore examination must be given to the following two decades to see if any trends of mutual exclusion decreased. From 1981-1990 the United States allowed in 7,338,062 immigrants, 116,172 of which were Iranian. While not a substantial increase, this does represent a roughly ½ percent rise in Iranian immigration to 1.5% of total immigrants the decade following the turmoil. From 1991-2000 9,095,417 immigrants were admitted, and only 68,556 Iranians were admitted, less than one percent of the total number of immigrants.
When these two decades are examined it clearly shows that a surge of immigration came directly after the Iranian revolution and into Khomeini’s crackdown and institution of Shari’a Law that occurred from roughly 1980 to the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988. As the Iranian regime persecuted non-Muslim groups within Iran, the ones who could fled, if not after a substantial period of “waiting things out.” This resulted in a mass of Iranian refugees who were allowed into the United States freely under the recently passed 1980 Refugee Act. This brought in a massive number of Iranian immigrants to the United States, in comparison to their numbers prior to the Revolution. This immediately forced a number of questions: Where will they live? How? Will they assimilate? Acculturate? Will religious factions fight here as they did in Iran? Will some carry their revolutionary or Tudeh (Communist) sentiments with them?

Why Come to California Refugees?

While the proportions of Iranian immigrants/refugees are not as large in the United States as other foreign groups, their aforementioned (in an earlier post, check it out!!) predilection for coming to California cannot be ignored. According to the 2000 Census over 50% of Iranian Immigrants live in California. The answer to why this happened or continues to happen has been elusive until last night, a smoking gun appeared and for once in my life, politics made things more clear. Digging through the troves of collection in the Library of Congress took forever and was defeating my hopes of ever answering why so many Iranians came to California. Enter House Resolution 476 introduced by Representative Martin T. Meehan from the great state of Massachusetts. Why would a piece of legislation, introduced by a Congressman from across the country, be relevant to this study? The answer lies in the 8 cosponsors of the bill, fifty percent of which are from California! While not as obvious as some would like, the domination of California Congresspeople in support of this bill shows not only the voting power of the arriving Iranian immigrants, but the states intent to lead the country in diversity and understanding of other cultures, and the fallout from political struggles. For the Iranian immigrants fleeing Islamic Fundamentalism, California was the “Gold in the hills,” “the jobs picking fruit,” and “the refuge from the Dust Bowl” that these Iranian freedom-seekers and fear-fleers needed. As California has done, and I assume will continue to do for years, for immigrants of all nationalities and religions, so too did it provide a diverse estuary for peoples either fleeing horrible conditions or simply seeking better ones. Sorry there are no pictures or links this week, far too much time in research, next week I will bring the funny back!