What should be done about illegal immigration?

How did my grandfather emigrate to Hawaii from Japan in 1896 if it was illegal? That was before 1924; show me how his immigration was illegal?

1858 Yedo Treaty-Treaty of Commerce and Navigation ; Treaty of Tientsin-Chinese government agreed to prohibit permanent emigration; reversed in 1959
1862 An Act to Protect Free White Labor Against Competition with Chinese Coolie Labor and to Discourage the Immigration of the Chinese into the State of California, April 26, 1862
1868 Burlingame-Seward Treaty-United States and China agreed to trade, travel, and residence rights for each other's citizens; still prohibited naturalization; additional articles to Sino-American treaty of 1858
1875 U.S. Congress passed first law (The Page Law) excluding certain categories of aliens (e.g., convicts and prostitutes); declared all earlier state laws regarding immigration unconstitutional
1876 Reciprocity treaty between Kingdom of Hawaii and United States
1878 In re Ah Yup rules Chinese ineligible for naturalized citizenship
1880 Sino-American treaty revised-Chinese government limited immigration of laborers in exchange for U.S. protection of those here
1882 Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited immigration of Chinese contract laborers for ten years; subsequently renewed; prohibited naturalization
1884 Increased restrictions on Chinese here and those seeking reentry -wives barred; anti miscegenation laws
1885 Congress banned contract labor
1882 Treaty of Chemulpo (Treaty of Amity and Commerce) started diplomatic relations between United States and Korea, which allowed Korean immigration to United States
1888 Scott Act prohibited immigration of virtually all Chinese, including those who had gone back to China to visit
1889 Chinese exclusion case (Chae Chan Ping v. United States) - Supreme Court ruled that an entire race that the government deemed difficult to assimilate might be barred from entry regardless of prior treaty
1892 Geary Act extended exclusion of Chinese laborers another ten years and stripped most legal rights from Chinese immigrants; also required certificates of residence for Chinese in the United States
1893 Fong Yue Ting v. United States - Supreme Court declared Congress had the right to legislate expulsion through executive orders; Chinese community had raised money to bring this before the Court to test the Geary Act.
Congress amended the Geary Act to make it more difficult for Chinese businessmen to enter this country
1894 Immigration officers authorized to ban the entry of certain aliens, including Chinese
Gresham-Yang Treaty-China accepted total prohibition of immigration to the United States in return for readmission of those back in China on a visit; did away win Scott Act of 1888
1898 Congress excluded Chinese laborers from Hawaii; excluded Chinese in Hawaii from coming to the United States
United States v. Wong Kim Art - Supreme Court rules person born in the United States of Chinese parents is of American nationality by birth
1889 Open door declared-United States advocated equal treatment within territories and sphere of influence claimed by other powers in china
1900 Organic Act provided government for territory of Hawaii; Chinese required to apply for certificate of residence
United States v. Mrs. Cue Lim -Supreme Court ruled wives and children of treaty merchants were entitled to come to the United States
1902 Chinese exclusion extended for another 10 years
1904 All Chinese excluded from the United States, Washington, D.C., and all U.S. territories
1906 Asian Indians denied U.S. citizenship
1907 Proclamation of president Theodore Roosevelt-Japanese and Koreans issued passports for Mexico, Canada, or Hawaii were to be denied admission to continental United States
1908 Gentleman's Agreement (Affecting the Immigration of Japanese) Japan agreed to halt further immigration to the United States and the United States agreed to end discrimination against those Japanese who had already arrived.
1910 Angel Island open ; it served as a prison for hundreds of Chinese immigrants.

Again, our grandfather came to the US in 1896 from Japan.

Thousands of fair minded and well meaning people who were biased and ignorant on the question of Japanese immigration have during the last year, entirely changed their views on the subject. They have learned the truth that the Japanese coolie is even a greater menace to the existence of the white race, to the progress and prosperity of our country than is the Chinese coolie.

But if there has been danger from Asiatic imigration to our state before, that danger has not lessened now.

On the contrary it has increased.

The great calamity which befell San Francisco will furnish the Orient with lurid tales of opportunity for employment and profit. California, the land of fabulous wealth, revenue and mountains of gold, and San Francisco with its wonderful wages will be exploited before the ignorant coolies until they will come in ship loads like an endless swarm of rats.

But let's move on. Your Grandfather certainly faced the racism of the anti-immigrant movement. I was wrong about the timing of the exclusion of Japanese from immigration... but there was very strong anti-Japanese sentiment which led to the "Gentleman's agreement" in 1906 which practically halted Japnese immigration. The complete legal exclusion of Japanese people from immigrating was passed in 1924.

The difference between the Japanese and Hispanic experience in the US is that the majority of Japanese have advanced economically, and most of our children have married into other cultures/races. When I say most, I would guess over 90%. I'm not aware of any other racial minority group in the US with that kind of record.

First, the slur that Japanese immigrants don't/can't assimilate was common in anti Japanese propaganda. Of course this is still said about Hispanic immigrants. As I pointed out, the anti-immigrant rhetoric, at its core, hasn't changed that much.

Your suggestion that Hispanics don't marry other races is ridiculous. There are lots of examples-- Alberto Gonzalez married, not one, but two non-Hispanic Americans. After the second or third generation, any immigrant group assimilates and intermarries-- Japanese immigrants and Hispanic immigrants are the same in this regard.

Second, correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think you are claiming that Japanese economic success is a factor of race. At least I hope you are not making this claim.

Economic success is a factor of history. For much of our history, it was much easier to exclude Japenese immigrants, by law and because of distance. This meant that the people coming were starting out as people of means. There is also, due to history and geography, a greater number of Hispanic immigrants now-- particularly migrant workers.

Of course, there are plenty of examples of the descendents of immigrants rising to success - Justice Sotomayor and Sen. Daniel Inouye among them.

It matters, because it means we have progressed way beyond discrimination against Japanese Americans. This all happened in less than fifty years after WWII, when we were rounded up and put into concentration camps by our government.

That's probably also some record in the history of America from outright discrimination to complete integration.