Source
The United States has generally treated Chinese immigrants like garbage. In the 1860's, we let Chinese men come to the country to build our transcontinental railroad. It was dangerous work that involved dynamite and mountains and no white person would do it unless you paid them a lot of money, so they decided to get people who would work for less.
Over 15,000 Chinese laborers came to the US and built our railroad, and we thanked them by passing the Page Act of 1875 which banned Chinese women from immigrating to the United States. The idea was hopefully it would get the laborers to go back to China.
Those who remained were subject to discrimination and segregation and further thanked for their service with the passing of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which banned all Chinese immigration entirely. This would not be lifted until 1965.
The anti-Asian sentiment we see on the news today, with Asian Americans and immigrants being attacked actually has a long history in this country. We like to pretend it's new, but it isn't. We white people love to hate people from non-European places. Always have. We seem to just move from one group to the next, using and abusing them while profiting as much as possible from them. Why? Because we are trash.
Sources:
Info About the Chinese Exclusion Act
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