Expressing Regret for Passage of Laws Adversely Affecting the Chinese in the United States

Floor Speech

Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 683. This resolution expresses the regret of the House of Representatives for the passage of laws that adversely affected the Chinese in the United States, including the Chinese Exclusion Act. These laws discriminated against people of Chinese descent and blatantly contradicted our belief that all people are created equal.
Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. The bill imposed a ten-year moratorium on immigration and naturalization of Chinese settlers. The law was expanded several times to apply to all persons of Chinese descent and each expansion imposed increasingly tougher restrictions on Chinese immigration and naturalization. As the resolution before us today states, the Chinese exclusion laws ``enshrined in law the exclusion of the Chinese from the democratic process and the promise of American freedom.''

The United States Senate passed a similar resolution in October 2011. I believe passage of H. Res. 683 will be a historic acknowledgment by Congress of the injustice of the Chinese exclusion laws.

I am proud to cosponsor this resolution and I encourage my colleagues to support it.

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