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American immigration policy, Chinese immigration, and Chinese concentration in New York City.


 This article explores the relationship between US immigration laws, Chinese immigrants' initial choices of residences and occupations in New York City, and the recent expansion of New York's Chinatown. Data were obtained from a questionnaire administered to 121 Chinese immigrants in New York in 1980. It was hypothesized that a high degree of immigrant concentration in areas such as Chinatown is a result of migration policies that favor chain migration. During the period of time (1943-65) when Chinese immigration was severely restricted by the Chinese Exclusion Act and a quota system, the Chinese population in New York remained small. By 1980, however, the Chinese population in New York City had grown to 124,764 (1.8% of the city's population). This was largely a result of the 1965 Immigration Act, which allows an annual quota of 20,000 immigrants per country and gives preference to family members of American citizens and permanent residents. Support for the hypothesis that the current immigration law encourages chain migration was provided by the finding that the majority of Chinese immigrants surveyed immigrated under the sponsorship of close relatives (53.7%) or as children with parents (13.2%). 53.4% had their initial residence arranged for or provided by relatives, and another 33.1% by friends--a pattern that has contributed to the expansion of Chinatown. To minimize the risk of having their applications for the immigration of family members declined, Chinese in New York refrain from seeking public assistance and take whatever jobs are available. 55% of immigrants surveyed obtained work in restaurants or garment factories in Chinatown, further sustaining a Chinese enclave. It is concluded that a theoretical perspective that emphasizes the link between migration policy and immigrants' choices regarding residence and occupation has more utility than hypotheses that assert a causal relationship between racial discrimination against minorities, nonassimilation of immigrants, and the formation of immigrant enclaves.
