S. RES. 506

III

118

CONGRESS

ESSION

S. RES.

506

Commemorating the 80th anniversary of the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion

Act of 1882.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

ECEMBER

14, 2023

Ms. H

IRONO

(for herself, Ms. D

UCKWORTH

, Mr. S

CHATZ

, Mrs. M

URRAY

, Mr.

ADILLA

, Ms. B

UTLER

, Mr. V

OLLEN

, Mr. W

ELCH

, Mr. W

YDEN

, Mr.

ARKEY

, Mr. D

URBIN

, and Mr. C

ASEY

) submitted the following resolu-

tion; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

RESOLUTION

Commemorating the 80th anniversary of the repeal of the

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

Whereas many Chinese people came to the United States in

the 19th and 20th centuries, as did people from other

countries, in search of the opportunity to create a better

life;

Whereas the contributions of Chinese Americans in agri-

culture, mining, manufacturing, transportation, canning,

and other industries were critical to shaping the history

of the United States and strengthening the United States

in the present;

Whereas Chinese people faced racial ostracism and violent as-

saults in the United States from the middle of the 19th

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•SRES 506 IS

century through the early 20th century, and Chinese peo-

ple continue to experience anti-Asian hate in the present;

Whereas, on October 19, 1868, the United States ratified the

Burlingame Treaty, which permitted the free movement

of Chinese people to, from, and within the United States,

and made China a ‘‘most favored nation’’;

Whereas, in 1878, Congress introduced a joint resolution re-

questing that President Rutherford B. Hayes renegotiate

the Burlingame Treaty so Congress could limit Chinese

immigration to the United States;

Whereas, on February 22, 1879, Congress passed the ‘‘Fif-

teen Passenger Bill’’, which would have only permitted

15 Chinese passengers on board any ship traveling to the

United States;

Whereas, on March 1, 1879, President Hayes vetoed the

‘‘Fifteen Passenger Bill’’ as being incompatible with the

Burlingame Treaty;

Whereas, on May 9, 1881, the United States ratified the

Angell Treaty, which—

(1) allowed the United States to suspend, but not to

prohibit, the immigration of Chinese laborers;

(2) declared that ‘‘Chinese laborers who are now in

the United States shall be allowed to go and come of

their own free will’’; and

(3) reaffirmed that Chinese persons possessed ‘‘all

the rights, privileges, immunities, and exemptions which

are accorded to the citizens and subjects of the most fa-

vored nation’’;

Whereas Congress passed legislation that adversely affected

and limited the civil rights of Chinese people in the

United States, including—

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(1) on March 23, 1882, the first Chinese Exclusion

Act, which would have excluded skilled and unskilled Chi-

nese laborers for 20 years and expressly denied Chinese

people the right to be naturalized as citizens of the

United States, and which was vetoed by President Ches-

ter A. Arthur on April 4, 1882, as incompatible with the

terms and the spirit of the Angell Treaty;

(2) on May 3, 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act of

1882 (22 Stat. 58, chapter 126), which—

(A) prohibited Chinese workers from entering

the United States for 10 years instead of 20;

(B) required certain Chinese laborers already

legally present at that time in the United States who

later wished to reenter the United States to obtain

‘‘certificates for return’’;

individuals;

(D) was signed into law by President Arthur on

May 6, 1882; and

(E) was the first Federal law that excluded a

single group of people in the United States on the

basis of race;

(3) on July 3, 1884, an expansion of the Chinese

Exclusion Act of 1882 (23 Stat. 115, chapter 220),

which—

(A) applied the Act to all people of Chinese de-

scent, ‘‘whether subjects of China or any other for-

eign power’’; and

(B) was signed into law by President Arthur on

July 5, 1884;

(4) on September 13, 1888, the Scott Act (25 Stat.

504, chapter 1064), which—

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(A) prohibited legal Chinese laborers from reen-

tering the United States, and cancelled all previously

issued ‘‘certificates for return’’;

(B) was signed into law by President Grover

Cleveland on October 1, 1888; and

the United States in Chae Chan Ping v. United

States, 130 U.S. 581 (1889), to have abrogated the

Angell Treaty; and

(5) on May 4, 1892, the Geary Act (27 Stat. 25,

chapter 60), which—

(A) reauthorized the Chinese Exclusion Act of

1882 for another 10 years;

(B) denied Chinese immigrants the right to be

released on bail on application for a writ of habeas

corpus;

ple who could not produce a certificate of residence

unless they could establish residence through the

testimony of ‘‘at least one credible white witness’’,

contrary to customary legal standards regarding the

presumption of innocence; and

(D) was signed into law by President Benjamin

Harrison on May 5, 1892;

Whereas, in 1894, the United States and China agreed to the

Gresham-Yang Treaty, within which the Chinese govern-

ment consented to a prohibition of Chinese immigration

and the enforcement of the Geary Act in exchange for re-

admission to the United States of Chinese people who

were residents of the United States;

Whereas, in 1898, the United States—

(1) annexed Hawaii;

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(2) took control of the Philippines; and

(3) excluded only the residents of Chinese ancestry

of Hawaii and the Philippines from entering the main-

land of the United States;

Whereas, on April 29, 1902, as the Geary Act was expiring,

Congress indefinitely extended all laws regulating and re-

stricting Chinese immigration and residence, to the ex-

tent consistent with Treaty commitments;

Whereas, on April 27, 1904, after the Chinese government

withdrew from the Gresham-Yang Treaty, Congress per-

manently extended ‘‘without modification, limitation, or

condition’’ the prohibition on Chinese naturalization and

immigration in the United States;

Whereas these Federal statutes enshrined in law the exclu-

sion of Chinese people in the United States from the

democratic process and the promise of freedom;

Whereas, in an attempt to undermine the alliance between

the United States and China during World War II,

enemy forces used the Chinese exclusion legislation

passed by Congress as evidence of anti-Chinese attitudes

in the United States;

Whereas, on November 26, 1943, in furtherance of the war

objectives of the United States and at the urging of

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Congress passed the

Magnuson Act (57 Stat. 600, chapter 344), which—

(1) repealed previously enacted Chinese exclusion

legislation;

(2) permitted Chinese people to become naturalized

citizens of the United States; and

(3) was signed into law by President Roosevelt on

December 17, 1943;

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Whereas, on October 6, 2011, the Senate unanimously agreed

to a resolution sponsored by Senator Scott Brown which

formally expressed regret for the passage of discrimina-

tory laws against Chinese Americans, including the Chi-

nese Exclusion Act of 1882;

Whereas, on June 18, 2012, the House of Representatives

unanimously agreed to a resolution sponsored by Rep-

resentative Judy Chu which formally expressed regret for

the passage of laws that adversely affected Chinese

Americans, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882;

Whereas Chinese Americans continue to play a significant

role in the success of the United States; and

Whereas the United States must continue to reject anti-Asian

hate and to build a country that does not perpetuate rac-

ist or xenophobic rhetoric or policies that have long

profiled Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific

Islander communities in the United States: Now, there-

fore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate— 1

(1) commemorates the 80th anniversary of the 2

repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (22 3

Stat. 58, chapter 126); 4

(2) celebrates Chinese American communities 5

who have enriched the fabric of the United States; 6

(3) acknowledges that historic and current 7

frameworks of anti-Chinese legislation, including the 8

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, are incompatible 9

with the basic founding principles recognized in the 10

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Declaration of Independence and with the spirit of 1

the Constitution of the United States; and 2

(4) reaffirms its commitment to preserving the 3

same civil rights and constitutional protections for 4

people of Chinese or other Asian, Native Hawaiian, 5

and Pacific Islander descent in the United States ac-6

corded to all other people in the United States, re-7

gardless of race or ethnicity. 8

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