Brief History of US Immigration Policy

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Brief History of US Immigration Policy
Ellis Island Inspection Station, c. 1910
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Early History

• Early Republic
• Open to free white men
• Citizenship (Naturalization Act 1802)
• Good moral character
• Loyalty to the Constitution
• Declaration of Intention

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Mid 19th Century

• Homestead Acts 1860s
• Promise of land encourages immigration
• Old Immigrants

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Mid-Century Nativsim

• Know Nothing Movement
• Native American Party

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Mid-Century Nativsim
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Mid-Century Nativsim
Nativist Riot, Hoboken 1851
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Late 19th Century

• Beginning of tougher regulations
• Immigration Act of 1882
• Head tax on immigrants (50 cents)
• Blocked entry of lunatics, convicts and
  destitute
• Immigration made a federal responsibility

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Late 19th Century

• Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
• Severely limited Chinese immigration
• Not repealed until 1943
• Immigration Act of 1891
• Office of Immigration (later, INS)
• 1892 Ellis Island opens

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Turn of the Century

• 1900-1920 14.5 million immigrants
• The New Immigrants

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Early 20th Century

• Immigration Act of 1917
• Literacy requirement
• Asiatic Barred Zone
• All of Asia excluded, except Japan
• Passed by Congress over Wilsons Veto
• Quota Act of 1921
• Limits based on existing American population

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Early 20th Century

• Immigration Act of 1924
• Annual quotas set at 2 of current non-resident
  population for each nationality
• Exceptions
• Wives and children
• Western hemisphere
• Beginning of illegal immigration as a problem

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Current System

• National origins system replaced in 1965
• Preference System
• Unite families
• Skilled workers
• Refugee Act of 1980
• Distinguishes those seeking asylum from those
  wishing to immigrate

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US Immigration