AHC Increased Arab immergration to US

Lateknight

Banned
Say for whatever reason there is more Arab immergration to the U.S. What would be the effects of this socially and policaly?
 

CaptainRex

Banned
The Russians beat the Ottomans and take Istanbul. The Ottoman Empire collapses and dozens of states pop up in Palestine, Iraq, Syria, and Arabia. Fighting breaks out for every issue from water rights to who gets Mecca. A genocide starts against the Shia and a massive region wide civil war starts.

Then, Zionist leaders see their chance start immigrating to Palestine. This escalates the conflict. Persia gets involved and their are 100 jihads declared. Total chaos. Image worst case now but in 1850. The Middle East is completely destabilized. Finally the European Powers carve up the region into colonies.

The while time thousands flee to America. First are Kurds, Christians, Jews, and Shia and then Sunni. Europe won't take them so they settle in America, Canada, and Argentina.

What do y'all think?
 
Another way, after acquiring the Southwest recruiters start trying to drum up immigrants in the Mideast. Figuring a desert's a desert and they're the people who can make the best use of it.

That's wrong, but you might get a good number over before anyone realizes the important differences between Arabia and Arizona.
 
Say for whatever reason there is more Arab immergration to the U.S. What would be the effects of this socially and policaly?

Although anti-Arab racism was never terribly bad in most parts of America historically, IOTL, prejudice still existed, partly because they were not "white", partly because they came from the "Orient", and partly because religious practices were often viewed as rather strange(but that didn't stop even a few mosques from being built, let alone several Orthodox churches).

More immigration of people from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and yes, even Palestine or even North Africa, while it might energize xenophobes in the shorter term, over, say, 20, maybe 30 years(the same happened with the Irish and Italians IOTL, on a slightly longer time frame; both were seen as "white" by most by 1915-20, but it took prejudice a while longer to actually die down), the long-term trends would suggest that they would, by 1950-60, maybe, be accepted as just another part of society, even if not viewed as "white".

The Russians beat the Ottomans and take Istanbul. The Ottoman Empire collapses and dozens of states pop up in Palestine, Iraq, Syria, and Arabia. Fighting breaks out for every issue from water rights to who gets Mecca. A genocide starts against the Shia and a massive region wide civil war starts.

Then, Zionist leaders see their chance start immigrating to Palestine. This escalates the conflict. Persia gets involved and their are 100 jihads declared. Total chaos. Image worst case now but in 1850. The Middle East is completely destabilized. Finally the European Powers carve up the region into colonies.

The while time thousands flee to America. First are Kurds, Christians, Jews, and Shia and then Sunni. Europe won't take them so they settle in America, Canada, and Argentina.

What do y'all think?

True, but alternatively what about this? Different political developments in the Ottoman Empire in the 1880s and '90s lead to not only massive persecutions of the Armenians, but the Maronite Lebanese as well, especially if the latter have tried to form their own nation. Tens of thousands of Lebanese are welcomed to America along with the Armenians, as victims of persecution, many settling in California but others in New York, Chicago, Detroit, etc.

Another way, after acquiring the Southwest recruiters start trying to drum up immigrants in the Mideast. Figuring a desert's a desert and they're the people who can make the best use of it.

That's wrong, but you might get a good number over before anyone realizes the important differences between Arabia and Arizona.

That's actually an interesting idea, but that would probably have to wait until after the Civil War, however.
 
The Lebanese have been of sizable influence in New Mexico for 120 years: ranchers, farmers, businessmen, politicians etc.
 
More Arab Christians is always possible. But I have no idea how people thought of Muslims (Arab, Turkish or Persian) in 19th century America.
 
The Lebanese have been of sizable influence in New Mexico for 120 years: ranchers, farmers, businessmen, politicians etc.

Now that's interesting. Do you have any resources that I can look at, though?

Thing is, plenty of Arab Christians have/do pass as white.

Some may have, I suppose.

More Arab Christians is always possible. But I have no idea how people thought of Muslims (Arab, Turkish or Persian) in 19th century America.

As far as I know, no serious prejudice existed against Muslims at that time. In fact, I don't believe it became much of a thing until about the 1960s IOTL, with the peak of the Nation of Islam; and it didn't see a real boost until later on, during the '80s, with it only becoming a major problem post-9/11.
 
Now that's interesting. Do you have any resources that I can look at, though?

Los Arabes de Nueva Mexico: Compadres from a Distant Land by Monika Ghattas

New Mexico's Lebanese Influence by Arnold Vigil

You can probably access one or both of these through a good library; the second one is on EBSCO.
 
"Zionism" did not exist until the late 19th century. Sure the Jewish people have always had a return to Jerusalem desire, but political Zionism which means the establishment of a Jewish state without the arrival of the Messiah started with Herzl's book "The Jewish State" (Die Judenstaat) published in 1896 in the wake of the Dreyfus Affair in France. Before then you might see some Jewish emigration to "Israel" in the scenario of a collapse of the Ottoman Empire and no limitations on immigration, but not much.

One of the drivers for immigration to the USA from Europe (at least until after the ACW) was the availability of open land for those in Europe who could not get land (other than first sons etc), as well as some political refugees (like after the 1848 revolutions). Furthermore getting to America was relatively easy for European immigrants even in the days of sail - you didn't have steam powered vessels bringing large numbers of immigrants until the 1870s and beyond.

Getting to the USA from the Middle East prior to the 1870s would be a big deal, and unlike the US-Europe route there was not a lot of trade to support voyages. Furthermore there were no drivers to emigrate - population density was very low. If you had more immigrants from the Middle East, they would most likely be Christians (and perhaps Sephardic Jews) because if there was some sort of power collapse and various factions fighting for territory in the Ottoman Empire the minorities (Christians and Jews) would be targets of the majority.

IMHO getting a lot of Arab/Muslim immigrants to come to the USA is pretty ASB. More, perhaps, but a lot no. Don't forget that any wave of Arabs has to come prior to WWI, because Arabs/Middle Eastern folks will be very restricted once the quota system laws are passed in the early 1920s. Another reality is that while the North was more attractive to immigrants than the South, you did have European immigration to the states of "CSA". Middle Easterners, specifically ethnic Arabs of any religion, are a lot "darker" than southern society accepts as full members. This also will be something that would reduce any Arab immigration.
 
When i was growing up in Atlanta, kids with names like Sharple and Azar were welcome in my school. Mostly from Lebanon, they were called Syrians. One of them ran a liquor store, and an Armenian had the leading rug business. Sharians was still in business even after Dalton began expanding.
 
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