China Seminar | 8 October 2015

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: The Current Immigration Trend of the Chinese to America

Alan W. C. Ma

Little did most American know that the comprehensive immigration reform (Immigration Control and Reform Act) or the amnesty law, signed by President Reagan in 1986, was modeled after a Hong Kong law. Subsequent to it, waves of Chinese migrated to the U.S., legally or illegally. As many educated, scholarly and financially accomplished Chinese are gaining their legal status in the U.S. under the 1990 immigration system, which is still in use today, just as many, if not more, are coming here illegally. Fraudulent marriage, adoption and divorce are common tactics used by the Chinese; so are the fraudulent and frivolous claims of political asylum under the disguise of victims of “one child policy” or members of “Fa Lun Gung”. Chinese “Anchor Babies” is just another episode of Chinese migration to U.S. of a recent past! Attorney Ma has been practicing US immigration law for over 30 years, and was an Adjunct Professor at UH Law School for 7 years. Formerly Chairman of the American Immigration Lawyers Association in Hawaii, he has been elected by peers consistently for over 20 years “Best Lawyers in America”, and was named one of the 2013 Lawyers of the Year by Honolulu Magazine. Previously appointed Hawaii Trade Representative in Hong Kong and China, he attracted investments under the “Eb-5 Program”. Mr. Ma is the co-author of bi-lingual (English-Chinese) “Real Estate Investment and Practices in the United States of America”. He is also a frequent contributor to publications in China and Hawaii, as well as an author of novels, plays and screenplays. He is currently co-producing a movie “Lucky Seven” in China.