Immigration Laws Essay examples

As leaders of this nation began to see the excessive outrage of many non-immigrants, they began to do something about the filtration process of the new immigrants coming over. Many new tests were formed in order to secure the amount of jobs being taken by Southern and Eastern Europeans. These tests included literacy tests, and simple health tests to test for mental illness, insanity, etc. In the end the new filtration laws were only letting about 37% of all immigrants into the United States (Document H). Many Americans responded well to these new laws, because they did not want insane, or illiterate, or mentally handicapped people taking over their jobs and taking their wages.

World War II brought a new set of immigrants, and eventually the passing of the Displaced Persons Act of 1947. This allowed people, displaced by war to enter the country above quota limits

At first the government supported open immigration in the open and settled land, but after the Civil War while, states began to pass their own immigration regulations and immigrating become more difficult. The Supreme Court decided immigration would be under federal jurisdiction in 1875, and Congress created the Department of Immigration in 1891. Since 1900 to 1921, Congress created the "quota system," which gave authorization for a specified number of individuals of all ethnic groups in immigration like most Asian nations (Wellman, Cole).

to use slaves. Also in 1885 another act was created, this act taxed Chinese immigrants fifty dollars and

There was a big gap between the native-born and immigrants in the 1920s. African Americans were not the only people who experienced racism in the 1920s. (Huggins) Masses of non-protestant immigrants arrived to the United States from south-east Europe. Most of them were Jews and Catholics. These new immigrants, along with Orientals, Mexicans, and Blacks, suffered the most from those who were involved with the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (W.A.S.P.) values. (Racial Discrimination in America during the 1920s) In 1921, Congress passed many immigration laws to stop immigration from southern and eastern Europe. (Huggins) Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act which created a quota system. This

Then there was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which barred certain laborers from migrating to the United States. Between 1885 and 1887 the Alien Contract Labor also, prohibited specific laborers from immigrating to the US. In 1891 the Federal Government took on the duty of admitting, inspecting, rejecting, and processing all immigrant in search of admission to the United States. On January 2, 1892, a Federal US immigration station opened on Ellis Island in New York Harbor. In 1903 a reaffirmed provisions that were in the 1891Act. The US immigration Act of 1907, reorganized the states bordering Mexico that includes Arizona, New Mexico and a large part of Texas. Between 1917 and 1924 there were a series of laws were ratified to limit the number of new aliens. These laws established the quota system and forced passport requirements. They also expanded the categories of excludable aliens and banned all Asians except the Japanese. A 1924 Act was created to reduced the number of US immigration visas and allocated them on the foundation of national origin. In 1940 The Alien Registration Act required all non-U.S. citizens within the United States to register with the Government and receive an Alien Registration Receipt Card, which was later called a Green Card. The Passage of the Internal Security Act of 1950 depicted the Alien Registration Receipt Card even more

In 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed, and Alien Contract Labor Laws of 1885 and 1887 prohibited certain laborers from immigrating to the United States. " Immigration Act of 1882 levied a head tax of fifty cents on each

The framework for American immigration policy began around the 1750-1820 period through the incorporation of colonial legacy with existing state and federal policy (Zolberg, 2009). The United States legislation has excluded whole nations and regions from migrating due to internal and external factors. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Page Act of 1875 restricted Chinese female immigration. In 1917 and 1924, quota systems were adopted to prohibit considerably “undesirable and “inferior” ethnic groups and races. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, between 400,000 and 1 million Mexican laborers and their families were deported under the “repatriation” programs. Approximately

The 1890s to the 1920s was the first time that the federal government was taking a real stand and control over immigration policies. It also saw the two greatest waves of immigration in the country’s history. War, poverty, political turmoil, social upheaval, food shortages, lack of available jobs and more prompted people from foreign countries to move to the United States because it was the land of dreams and prosperity. After the depression of the 1890s immigration jumped from 3.5 million to 9 million in a ten year period. By 1900, New York City had as many Irish residents as Dublin and more Italians than any city outside Rome and more Poles than any city except Warsaw. It had more Jews than any other city in the world, as well as large amount of Slavs, Lithuanians, Chinese, and Scandinavians (Collier). The government began to limit these new immigrants. From 1882 until 1943 most Chinese immigrants were barred from entering the United States under the Chinese Exclusion Act, the nation’s first law to ban immigration by race or nationality. In 1892, Ellis Island was opened in New York evaluate immigrants before allowing them to enter the United States. On the West Coast, Angel Island, a similar immigrant station opened near San Francisco. World economies slowed and other problems occurred that caused people to become desperate for work and a fresh start.

The immigration act of 1924 was really the first permanent limitation on immigration. This limitation was like a quota system that only aloud two percent instead of the three percent of each foreign born group living in the United states in 1890. Like it say in Document A “Under the act of 1924 the number of each nationality who may be admitted annually is limited to two per cent of the population of such nationality resident in the United States according to the census of 1890.” Using the 1890 census instead of newer up-to-date ones they excluded a lot of new immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe that came by in resent years (This is shown awfully well in Document B). This acts annual quota changed from 358,000 in 1921 to 164,000

In 1911, The Dillingham Commission (1907) published a 42-volume report, noticing that the "new" immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe could threaten American society. It was recommendations for the Quota Acts of the 1920s. In 1913, California's Alien Land Law prohibited aliens ineligible for citizenship, Chinese and Japanese from owning property in the state. Then in 1917 was another year marked for many events such as the Congress decreed a literacy requirement for immigrants, they should be able to read 40 words in some language; however Asian were banned except for Japan and the Philippines. Then, United States entered the First World War. Following, The Immigration Act of 1917 controlled the Asian immigration by creating an "Asiatic

The act set quotas limiting annual immigration from particular countries. Wives and unmarried children of US citizens, residents of the Western hemisphere, religious or academic professionals were all allowed free entrance. Other than that, everyone else was subject to annual numerical limits. For three year until July 1927, the quota would be two percent of the total population of that nationality based upon the 1890 Census. After that, the quota would be limited to a total of 150,000 immigrants which would be divided in proportion of the birth countries to the ancestry of the 1920

The first measure restricting immigration enacted by Congress was a law in 1862 forbidding American vessels to transport Chinese immigrants to Canada; 20 years later Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act excluding Chinese immigrants. In 1875, 1882, and 1892, acts passed by Congress provided for the examination of immigrants and for the exclusion from Canada of convicts, polygamists, prostitutes, persons suffering from loathsome or contagious diseases, and persons liable to become public charges. The Alien Contract Labor Laws of 1885, 1887, 1888, and 1891 prohibited the immigration to Canada of persons entering the country to work under contracts made before their arrival; professional actors, artists, singers, lecturers, educators, ministers, and personal and domestic servants were exempt from this provision. Alien skilled laborers, under these laws, were permitted to enter Canada to work in new industries. A diplomatic agreement made in 1907 by Canada and Japan provided that the Japanese government would not issue passports to Japanese laborers intending to enter Canada; under the terms of this agreement, Canada government refrained until 1924 from enacting laws excluding Japanese immigrants.

Naturalization Act of 1870: Control Naturalization Process and penalization of fraudulent practices. The Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) allowed the U.S. to suspend

There were multiple regulations passes between 1880 and 1925 which regulated the number of immigrants entering the country. In 1882, the Immigration Act only allowed for people of "good stock" to enter the country. This act passed by Congress provided for the examination of immigrants and for the exclusion from the U.S. of convicts, prostitutes, persons suffering from diseases, and persons liable to become public charges. This act, along with the Chinese Exclusion Act, which disallowed immigrants from China to enter the country, was responsible for a precipitous decline in immigration. In 1885, The Alien Contract Labor Laws were created. They prohibited the immigration to the U.S. of persons entering the country to work under contracts made before their arrival. In 1887 the American Protective Association was created by Henry Bowers. It was a radical group that created conspiracy theories of