Cases from Exclusion: Marital Choices, Motherhood, and Belonging

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores various tactics used by women to negotiate with the U.S. immigration regime during the exclusion era (1875–1943). Using archival case files from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, I examine the cases of five women who lost their U.S. citizenship via their choices to marry Chinese immigrant men. Rather than focusing on the restrictions faced by Chinese immigrant women, this study examines how their negotiations with immigration officials drew on gendered prescriptions of family and motherhood in navigating systems of legal exclusion for the benefit of themselves and their families.