AHC/WI: More East Asian and Southeast Asians in the United States

So the AHC is to get more people of East Asian and South East Asian descent in the United States. Bonus points for finding a way to make them the third largest ethnic/racial group in the United States after Caucasian and Hispanic groups.

The POD period is any time after World War One.

What is the impact of this many people of Asian descent on the US given that this would make the US even more diverse with large African American, Hispanic, and Asian populations?

What States would likely see the most settlement and from which countries?
 
Statehood for the Philippines would make Asians one fourth of the current population assuming population growth remains the same.

No Chinese exclusion seems obvious. This combines with a war or famine in China, perhaps something like the Taiping Rebellion, except in the 20th century, could influence people to flee to the United States.

California and Hawaii would receive the most for obvious reasons. Alaska may as well.
 
Given that everyone else will offer up scenarios that involve increasing the level of immigration, let me try to give a left field answer that may or may not answer the spirit of the OP's question. America goes through a period where eugenics and scientific racism are much more popular, leading to the United States Census asking for racial identification using categories similar to those formulated (incorrectly) by Carleton S. Coon. While hopefully the country is able to move past this phase, one legacy of this era will be the lumping together of East Asians and Native Americans into one group and the lack of a distinct Hispanic category. The three largest racial groups by self-identification will be white people, black people, and Asians by any name.

To be clear, the ideas of Coon and folks like him were very incorrect. I am just trying to postulate a world where the proportion of Asians increases not necessarily as a result of more immigration, but as a result of a different system of identification. Race is an arbitrary concept, so it is not hard to imagine that it could be arbitrary in such a way that technically fulfills the challenge of the OP.
 
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Statehood for the Philippines would make Asians one fourth of the current population assuming population growth remains the same.

No Chinese exclusion seems obvious. This combines with a war or famine in China, perhaps something like the Taiping Rebellion, except in the 20th century, could influence people to flee to the United States.

California and Hawaii would receive the most for obvious reasons. Alaska may as well.
That's wrong. If the Philippines was made a US state it would have lowered population growth (since developed country=low fertility rate)

Lets say Philippines was made a US state around 1920. It's population at the time was only 10 million. Present day it would probably be around 30-40 million instead of 100 million today.

Removing the Chinese Exclusion Act is the definite answer. You could probably add a million or two just from that.
 
Carve a couple of states from the Philippines, and add a state of Micronesia instead of the various independent former Trust Territories. That alone should first pump up the numbers, and second, add a popular area for immigrants to settle ala Hawaii.

Another way? A bit grim, but make Asia a place people really want to leave - have the North Vietnamese go all Khmer Rogue on the South, have the People's Republic of China go even deeper into Maoism, have a few wars between Pakistan and India.
 
That's wrong. If the Philippines was made a US state it would have lowered population growth (since developed country=low fertility rate)

Lets say Philippines was made a US state around 1920. It's population at the time was only 10 million. Present day it would probably be around 30-40 million instead of 100 million today.

Filipino population growth might well have been lowered had the islands developed to the level of (say) Puerto Rico, but there would also be much more of a Filipino presence in the 50 states. The lack of barriers on the movement of American citizens from one state to another aside, if Filipinos were wealthier migration would be much more affordable.
 
One of my favorite nuggets from Yiddish Policemen's Union was the Filipino minority that filled an economic niche by moving to Sitka (and created the Filipino-style Chinese donut as a local street food). So I guess if the Alaska Plan happens...
:winkytongue:
 
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