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Sri Lankan Americans’ IMPACT ON Life in America – By Nandasiri Jasentuliyana Photo: Outstanding achievements of Sri Lankan Americans are recognized at the Sri Lanka Foundation Award Ceremony held at the Baltimore Hotel in Los Angeles. Credit: Sri Lanka Foundation. Source:-indepthnews The writer is former Deputy Director-General of the United Nations. LOS ANGELES (IDN) — The earliest Sri Lankans to enter the United States were classified as “other Asians.” Immigration records show that between 1881 and 1890, 1,910 “other Asians” were admitted to the United States. It is unlikely that many of these were from Sri Lanka. In 1975, immigration records classified Sri Lankans as a separate category for the first time. That year, 432 Sri Lankans immigrated to the United States. The numbers increased since the outbreak of the civil war in Sri Lanka, with an average of 400 Sri Lankans immigrating to the United States each year and ...