III 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 506 

Commemorating the 80th anniversary of the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion 

Act of 1882. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 14, 2023 

Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. SCHATZ, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. 

PADILLA, Ms. BUTLER, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. 

MARKEY, Mr. DURBIN, and Mr. CASEY) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Commemorating the 80th anniversary of the repeal of the 

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. 

Whereas many Chinese people came to the United States in 

the 19th and 20th centuries, as did people from other 

countries, in search of the opportunity to create a better 

life; 

Whereas the contributions of Chinese Americans in agriculture, mining, manufacturing, transportation, canning, 

and other industries were critical to shaping the history 

of the United States and strengthening the United States 

in the present; 

Whereas Chinese people faced racial ostracism and violent assaults in the United States from the middle of the 19th 

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•SRES 506 IS 

century through the early 20th century, and Chinese people continue to experience anti-Asian hate in the present; 

Whereas, on October 19, 1868, the United States ratified the 

Burlingame Treaty, which permitted the free movement 

of Chinese people to, from, and within the United States, 

and made China a ‘‘most favored nation’’; 

Whereas, in 1878, Congress introduced a joint resolution requesting that President Rutherford B. Hayes renegotiate 

the Burlingame Treaty so Congress could limit Chinese 

immigration to the United States; 

Whereas, on February 22, 1879, Congress passed the ‘‘Fifteen Passenger Bill’’, which would have only permitted 

15 Chinese passengers on board any ship traveling to the 

United States; 

Whereas, on March 1, 1879, President Hayes vetoed the 

‘‘Fifteen Passenger Bill’’ as being incompatible with the 

Burlingame Treaty; 

Whereas, on May 9, 1881, the United States ratified the 

Angell Treaty, which— 

(1) allowed the United States to suspend, but not to 

prohibit, the immigration of Chinese laborers; 

(2) declared that ‘‘Chinese laborers who are now in 

the United States shall be allowed to go and come of 

their own free will’’; and 

(3) reaffirmed that Chinese persons possessed ‘‘all 

the rights, privileges, immunities, and exemptions which 

are accorded to the citizens and subjects of the most favored nation’’; 

Whereas Congress passed legislation that adversely affected 

and limited the civil rights of Chinese people in the 

United States, including— 

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•SRES 506 IS 

(1) on March 23, 1882, the first Chinese Exclusion 

Act, which would have excluded skilled and unskilled Chinese laborers for 20 years and expressly denied Chinese 

people the right to be naturalized as citizens of the 

United States, and which was vetoed by President Chester A. Arthur on April 4, 1882, as incompatible with the 

terms and the spirit of the Angell Treaty; 

(2) on May 3, 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 

1882 (22 Stat. 58, chapter 126), which— 

(A) prohibited Chinese workers from entering 

the United States for 10 years instead of 20; 

(B) required certain Chinese laborers already 

legally present at that time in the United States who 

later wished to reenter the United States to obtain 

‘‘certificates for return’’; 

(C) prohibited courts from naturalizing Chinese 

individuals; 

(D) was signed into law by President Arthur on 

May 6, 1882; and 

(E) was the first Federal law that excluded a 

single group of people in the United States on the 

basis of race; 

(3) on July 3, 1884, an expansion of the Chinese 

Exclusion Act of 1882 (23 Stat. 115, chapter 220), 

which— 

(A) applied the Act to all people of Chinese descent, ‘‘whether subjects of China or any other foreign power’’; and 

(B) was signed into law by President Arthur on 

July 5, 1884; 

(4) on September 13, 1888, the Scott Act (25 Stat. 

504, chapter 1064), which— 

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•SRES 506 IS 

(A) prohibited legal Chinese laborers from reentering the United States, and cancelled all previously 

issued ‘‘certificates for return’’; 

(B) was signed into law by President Grover 

Cleveland on October 1, 1888; and 

(C) was determined by the Supreme Court of 

the United States in Chae Chan Ping v. United 

States, 130 U.S. 581 (1889), to have abrogated the 

Angell Treaty; and 

(5) on May 4, 1892, the Geary Act (27 Stat. 25, 

chapter 60), which— 

(A) reauthorized the Chinese Exclusion Act of 

1882 for another 10 years; 

(B) denied Chinese immigrants the right to be 

released on bail on application for a writ of habeas 

corpus; 

(C) authorized the deportation of Chinese people who could not produce a certificate of residence 

unless they could establish residence through the 

testimony of ‘‘at least one credible white witness’’, 

contrary to customary legal standards regarding the 

presumption of innocence; and 

(D) was signed into law by President Benjamin 

Harrison on May 5, 1892; 

Whereas, in 1894, the United States and China agreed to the 

Gresham-Yang Treaty, within which the Chinese government consented to a prohibition of Chinese immigration 

and the enforcement of the Geary Act in exchange for readmission to the United States of Chinese people who 

were residents of the United States; 

Whereas, in 1898, the United States— 

(1) annexed Hawaii; 

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•SRES 506 IS 

(2) took control of the Philippines; and 

(3) excluded only the residents of Chinese ancestry 

of Hawaii and the Philippines from entering the mainland of the United States; 

Whereas, on April 29, 1902, as the Geary Act was expiring, 

Congress indefinitely extended all laws regulating and restricting Chinese immigration and residence, to the extent consistent with Treaty commitments; 

Whereas, on April 27, 1904, after the Chinese government 

withdrew from the Gresham-Yang Treaty, Congress permanently extended ‘‘without modification, limitation, or 

condition’’ the prohibition on Chinese naturalization and 

immigration in the United States; 

Whereas these Federal statutes enshrined in law the exclusion of Chinese people in the United States from the 

democratic process and the promise of freedom; 

Whereas, in an attempt to undermine the alliance between 

the United States and China during World War II, 

enemy forces used the Chinese exclusion legislation 

passed by Congress as evidence of anti-Chinese attitudes 

in the United States; 

Whereas, on November 26, 1943, in furtherance of the war 

objectives of the United States and at the urging of 

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Congress passed the 

Magnuson Act (57 Stat. 600, chapter 344), which— 

(1) repealed previously enacted Chinese exclusion 

legislation; 

(2) permitted Chinese people to become naturalized 

citizens of the United States; and 

(3) was signed into law by President Roosevelt on 

December 17, 1943; 

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•SRES 506 IS 

Whereas, on October 6, 2011, the Senate unanimously agreed 

to a resolution sponsored by Senator Scott Brown which 

formally expressed regret for the passage of discriminatory laws against Chinese Americans, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882; 

Whereas, on June 18, 2012, the House of Representatives 

unanimously agreed to a resolution sponsored by Representative Judy Chu which formally expressed regret for 

the passage of laws that adversely affected Chinese 

Americans, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882; 

Whereas Chinese Americans continue to play a significant 

role in the success of the United States; and 

Whereas the United States must continue to reject anti-Asian 

hate and to build a country that does not perpetuate racist or xenophobic rhetoric or policies that have long 

profiled Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific 

Islander communities in the United States: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) commemorates the 80th anniversary of the 

3 repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (22 

4 Stat. 58, chapter 126); 

5 (2) celebrates Chinese American communities 

6 who have enriched the fabric of the United States; 

7 (3) acknowledges that historic and current 

8 frameworks of anti-Chinese legislation, including the 

9 Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, are incompatible 

10 with the basic founding principles recognized in the 

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1 Declaration of Independence and with the spirit of 

2 the Constitution of the United States; and 

3 (4) reaffirms its commitment to preserving the 

4 same civil rights and constitutional protections for 

5 people of Chinese or other Asian, Native Hawaiian, 

6 and Pacific Islander descent in the United States ac7 corded to all other people in the United States, re8 gardless of race or ethnicity. 

Æ