Immigration in USA Essay

Over the years, the levels of immigration have been at historic heights as a result of the United States appeal as the land of opportunities. In order to accommodate those who wish to reside within the United States, the implemented immigration laws and U.S citizenship requirements as a standard of admission and exclusion. In 1965, the National Origins Quota System was removed by congress, which led to noticeable changes in the immigrant population –the more ethnically diverse the United States became a sense of uneasiness was developing in response to said increase. This led to the creation of immigration restrictions that manifested into racism. The implementation of the new restrictions on immigration where adversities as being made with

Since the beginning of times up until present time the United States Congress has always passed laws to limit immigrants rights. Immigrants who came to America for a better life have gone through many struggles due to the restrictions against them. Precedently, with the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited Chinese immigrants to enter the United States. Another act was the Gentlemen’s Agreement Act between Japan and America, where Japan agreed to limit immigration, only if President Theodore Roosevelt agreed to limit restrictions on Japanese immigrants. Then in 1924, Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924. The act limited the number of aliens that are allowed in the U.S. Congress passed this act because they felt that immigrant threaten America’s “old ways.” Congress wanted American to be “pure” again, by doing so, they had to get rid of many immigrants. The factors that led to Congress to pass the Immigration Act were to maintain American traditions, maintain jobs for American citizens, and repair the income.

The first of those two would be the Emergency Quota Act, which was signed on May 19th, 1921. The purpose of this act was essentially to limit, or restrict the movement of immigrants into America. This bill was based off a 1910 U.S census, and once signed it limited the number of a nations immigrants to 3% of their residents already in America

The period between 1900 and 1915 is thought to be the peak of immigration. More than ten million people came to the United States looking for a better future. The fact that these included Jews and Catholics alerted older Anglo-Saxon and Protestant American citizens. They also disliked the fact that newcomers with their Old World customs, dared to compete for low-wage jobs. As the tension over immigration rose, a series of anti-immigration measures were taken. Immigration Quota Law of 1924 and a 1929 act, both of these laws limited the number of immigrants to over a hundred thousand to be distributed among people of different nationalities as oppose to the number of the fellow countrymen already living in the United States in 1920.

In 1952, the McCarran-Walter Immigration Act was passed. The law was meant to branch off of the Immigration Act of 1924 and became a continuation of the controversial system of immigration in the United States. The act received different opinions and now, more than ever, is exceedingly influential. With the recent election of President Donald Trump and his muslim ban, the act has been revived and is being questioned by many. The constant questioning sixty five years later makes the need for a change very apparent. In 1952, when the act became law, the United States were deep in the Cold War and much of the country feared communism and its power. The McCarran-Walter Immigration Act of 1952 is immensely outdated and it continues to put the

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

The significance of the 1965 Immigration Reform,also known as the Hart-Celler Act, was that it removed the previous quota system to create a new immigration policy to reunite families and allow skilled workers into the united states. It had a huge impact in the population growth of asian americans and many other races. The new immigration policy allowed immigrants to be permanent residents if you had a relative in the United States or if the immigrant had useful skills. Even though it removed the previous quotas they still had to place

has set laws to regulate immigration. These laws have changed since the 1900s and immigrants now have a harder time getting into the U.S. and staying here. THe Naturalization Act of 1790 was the nation's first act on immigration. The act stated that unindentured white males must live in the U.S. for two years before gaining citizenship. The time you had to stay in the U.S. was later increased to five years in 1795. The Naturalization Act of 1906 made it so anyone who was wanting to enter the U.S. was required to know english. In 1907 the Immigration Act was passed to ban people who were unable to work from entering the U.S. Anyone with disabilities or children were denied entrance to the U.S. During the 1920s the U.S. decided to put quotas on countries determining the number of immigrants that they will allow into the U.S. In 2005 the U.S. created the Real ID ACt which requires states to verify a person’s immigration status before issuing licenses. This was enforced to limit the number of illegal immigrants from entering the

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart-Celler Act, was signed into law on October 3rd, 1965, and abolished the National Origins Formula. This aforementioned policy was an American structure of immigration quotas that transpired from 1921 to 1965 and limited resettlement to the United States, based on the conviction that an existing ethnic composition needed to be maintained. This former policy directly impacted existing proportions of the population from Eastern and Southern Europe and demonstrated an inherent bias against Asians and Africans. However the Immigration Act of 1965 intended to eradicate these former immigration policies, replacing it with a law that was meant to lead to profound demographic changes. The Immigration and Nationality Act was cited as a radical break from the then-quota-system, replacing it with a preference structure that focused on an immigrants’ skills and family relationships with United States residents. At its core the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 was a reformed legislation that eased restrictions on immigration laws and

One major immigration policy that was important event was a law known as The Johnson Act: Emergency Quota Act of 1921 was enacted and signed into law on 05/19/21.The first federal law in U.S. history to limit the immigration of Europeans, the Immigration Act of 1921 reflected the growing American fear that people from southern and eastern European countries not only did not adapt well to American society but also threatened its very existence. The law specified that no more than 3 percent of the total number of immigrants from any specific country already living in the United States in 1910 could migrate to America during any year. (History.state.gov, 2017)

This legislation required that an individual reside in the country for 14 years prior to becoming a citizen, and, established one of the first deportation systems for the United States. (Englund & Svoboda 2007) Between 1790 and 1820 immigration begins to gradually increase, and between the 1830’s and 1860’s there is an influx in movement into America from Ireland and Western Europe. (Cannato 2012; Schultz 2010; Ewing 2012) Cannato writes that “This pattern began to change in the 1830s, which saw more than 500,000 immigrants arrive (again, almost entirely from Western Europe, especially Germany and Ireland).” (Cannato 2012) Ewing tells us that “ During the 1840s, 50s, and 60s, approximately 6.6 million immigrants arrived in the United States.” (Ewing

America is traditionally a country of immigrants. Very few people today have relatives who were Native Americans, many of them because of religious persecution, and others because of they were just looking to start a new life on the exciting untouched frontier. For instance, in Florida, the first arrivals were European, beginning with the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon who explored the land in 1513, following French and Spanish settlement during the 16th century. From the past, America was seen as a country of opportunities. People from all over the world have moved here looking for better opportunities. There are a lot of reasons why immigrants should live in this country, but I would like to mention three of them.

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

In 1917, the U.S. Congress enacted the immigration law, which was the first time to restrict the population widely. From then on, many immigration laws were issued and a national origins quota was declared in order to limit the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States, especially in The Johnson-Reed Act( The Immigration Act of 1924). However, the policy changing with the time passing by. The bracero program in 1942 brings Mexican immigrants hope and success, which attracted more and more move to America to realize their dreams. Nowadays, many people from other countries have still had the strong desire to stay in America, but the American immigration policy is complex, and Donald Trump maintains the hardline on immigration or even curb it.

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