PDF: 2962 pages, 5.2 MB - Bay Area Council Economic Institute

A Distant Dream: Indian Immigrants Arrive in California
The Supreme Court unanimously upheld a narrow meaning of Caucasian to include only European
whites under the Act, thereby reversing the citizenship, as well the property deeds and
leases, of naturalized Indians. Some held onto their property by listing it under the names of
American lawyers, bankers or other farmers, until a 1933 ruling banned that practice. Many after
that held land under the names of American-born children. Thind remained in the U.S., earned a
PhD, made his living as an author and lecturer, and was eventually granted citizenship through
New York state.
Another Berkeley graduate and member of the Hindustan Association, Dalip Singh Saund,
earned his PhD in mathematics in 1924 and ultimately became the first American of Indian origin
to serve in Congress, from 1956 to 1962. Saund’s activism on citizenship issues contributed
to the Luce-Celler Act, a major change in U.S. immigration policy.
Enactment of the Luce-Celler Act and repeal of the earlier exclusion laws in 1946 allowed
Indians into the U.S. on a naturalization path—but only up to 100 annually—and allowed them
to own property. In 1952, family members and persons with needed skills were allowed to immigrate.
Prompted by the Cold War, the 1965 Hart-Celler Act eliminated unequal country quotas,
focusing instead on immigrants with special skills, such as scientists and engineers. This change
prompted a spike in Indian immigration, beginning in 1966.
The Next Wave: Small Business Owners and Engineers
Entrepreneurship has been a core characteristic of successive waves of Indian immigration.
Initial post-war immigrants continued to be northern Indian, mainly Punjabi Sikhs. Gradually
they branched out from farming and day labor into small independent businesses—as truck and
taxi drivers, restaurant and small business owners, and franchise developers.
A sizable group, many from Gujarat, were drawn to the lodging industry, which offered franchising
opportunities, ease of assimilation, cash flow and immediate housing. More than half of
all economy lodges and 37% of all hotels in the U.S. are now Indian-owned, representing some
$38 billion in franchised and independent properties.
Families owning and operating hotels, motels and apartment buildings came to be known as
“patels” named for the recordkeeper appointed by rulers in ancient India to keep track of crops
and receipts on each parcel of land, or “pat.” A nationwide trade association for Indo-American
owners, the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), began in Tennessee in 1985
as the Midsouth Indemnity Association, to provide financing and insurance to Indian hoteliers
who had encountered economic discrimination in their local communities.
New Opportunities in Silicon Valley
As early as the 1970s, the U.S. began to attract foreign-born engineers on H1-B specialized skill
visas for the aerospace and defense industries, at a time when fewer U.S. students were pursuing
science, mathematics and engineering careers. Technological developments such as the space
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