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Filipino Migration Timeline

      1565-1815 – Filipinos were forced to work as sailors and navigators for the Spanish.


      1781 - Antonio Miranda Rodriguez Poblador, a Filipino, was sent by the Spanish to establish what is now Los Angeles, California.


      1906-1934 – A wave of Filipino immigrants starting coming mostly to Hawaii and California. They came to the sugar plantations for work as well as other farms for products such as grapes, asparagus, lettuce, and other produce. They settled in places like Stockton, Hayward, and Salinas. They also did manual labor and settled in places like Stockton, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The ratio of Filipino men to women was extremely unbalanced, but California made laws that made it illegal for Filipino men to marry white women. Because of this, Filipinos had to drive outside the state to get married.

Filipinos were allowed to enter the United States because the Philippians was a U.S. colony, but filipinos were not allowed to become naturalized citizens.   


      1934 – The Tydings-Mcduffie Act reclassified all Filipinos as aliens because the Philippines were no longer a U.S. colony. Once the Philippines were completely independent, the act limited Filipino immigration to 50 people per year.


      1935 – The Filipino Repatriation Act pressured Filipinos to return to the Philippines. Passage was paid for, even for U.S. born Filipino children. Almost 2,000 Filipinos left the United States during the late 1930s.


      1945-1965 – Another wave of Filipino migration happened during this time. The Filipinos helped the Americans in World War Two against the Japanese. They served as stewards in the United States Navy.


      1965- Today – After the Immigration Act was passed many more Filipinos have been able to enter the country annually.