[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 206 (Thursday, December 14, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S6002]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





SENATE RESOLUTION 506--COMMEMORATING THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE REPEAL 
                  OF THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT OF 1882

  Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Schatz, Mrs. Murray, Mr. 
Padilla, Ms. Butler, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Welch, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Markey, 
Mr. Durbin, and Mr. Casey) submitted the following resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary:

                              S. Res. 506

       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 
     agriculture, 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 
     assaults in the United States from the middle of the 19th 
     century through the early 20th century, and Chinese people 
     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 
     requesting 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 
     ``Fifteen 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 favored 
     nation'';
       Whereas Congress passed legislation that adversely affected 
     and limited the civil rights of Chinese people in the United 
     States, including--
       (1) on March 23, 1882, the first Chinese Exclusion Act, 
     which would have excluded skilled and unskilled Chinese 
     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 Chester 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'';
          (C) prohibited courts from naturalizing Chinese 
     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 descent, 
     ``whether subjects of China or any other foreign 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--
          (A) prohibited legal Chinese laborers from reentering 
     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
          (C) was determined by the Supreme Court of 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;
          (C) authorized the deportation of Chinese people 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 government 
     consented to a prohibition of Chinese immigration and the 
     enforcement of the Geary Act in exchange for readmission to 
     the United States of Chinese people who were residents of the 
     United States;
       Whereas, in 1898, the United States--
       (1) annexed Hawaii;
       (2) took control of the Philippines; and
       (3) excluded only the residents of Chinese ancestry of 
     Hawaii and the Philippines from entering the mainland of the 
     United States;
       Whereas, on April 29, 1902, as the Geary Act was expiring, 
     Congress indefinitely extended all laws regulating and 
     restricting Chinese immigration and residence, to the extent 
     consistent with Treaty commitments;
       Whereas, on April 27, 1904, after the Chinese government 
     withdrew from the Gresham-Yang Treaty, Congress permanently 
     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 
     exclusion 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;
       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 discriminatory 
     laws against Chinese Americans, including the Chinese 
     Exclusion Act of 1882;
       Whereas, on June 18, 2012, the House of Representatives 
     unanimously agreed to a resolution sponsored by 
     Representative 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 
     racist or xenophobic rhetoric or policies that have long 
     profiled Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific 
     Islander communities in the United States: Now, therefore, be 
     it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) commemorates the 80th anniversary of the repeal of the 
     Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (22 Stat. 58, chapter 126);
       (2) celebrates Chinese American communities who have 
     enriched the fabric of the United States;
       (3) acknowledges that historic and current frameworks of 
     anti-Chinese legislation, including the Chinese Exclusion Act 
     of 1882, are incompatible with the basic founding principles 
     recognized in the Declaration of Independence and with the 
     spirit of the Constitution of the United States; and
       (4) reaffirms its commitment to preserving the same civil 
     rights and constitutional protections for people of Chinese 
     or other Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander descent 
     in the United States accorded to all other people in the 
     United States, regardless of race or ethnicity.

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