Migration Patterns

The aspect of migration is an important concept to grasp. Detailing the different migration patterns of a community can demonstrate the rich history of said community and explain the reasons for how the community interacts either amongst themselves or between the different racial communities. This is prevalent in the Middle Eastern and North African populations in the United States which have roots in immigration from 22 different countries. Their migration to the United States can be dated back to the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century (Batalova et al., 2022). During this period, many Arabs from what was once known as Greater Syria migrated to the United States as a result of religious and political conflict. However, immigration slowed down significantly after the implementation of the quota system implemented by the Johnson-Reed act (Little, 2022).

There was a smaller portion of refugees that immigrated to the United States during the Palestine war in 1953 (Little, 2022). The immigration of Arab Americans really exploded again in 1965 when the United States implemented the Hart-Cellar Immigration and Nationality Act which eliminated the quota system set in place prior (Little, 2022). However, immigration after this period has been met with some conflict. There was a great deal of immigration after 1990 due to the war and conflicts in many of the Arab countries. That being said, many of the refugees that came during this period were met with some set back (Batalova et al., 2022). Those events were 9/11 and the Muslim ban from Trump.

In total there have been four distinct periods from which Arabs have immigrated to the United States thus far (Batalova et al., 2022). When many of them initially immigrated to America, many of them did not obtain citizenship. This meant that they were unable to get access to many of the resources that would help them progress as a community. Therefore, during the initial phase of trying to get citizenship, they advocated to be classified as white and get access to said resources.