Immigration Legislation

1
Immigration Legislation

• Acts and Laws

2
1790 Naturalization Law

• Set residence requirements at two years uniformly
  across all states.
• 1795 moved it from 2 years to 5 years

3
1819 1st significant legislation

• States must report to Fed Govt all immigration

4
1864 Secretary of State takes control

• Fed govt legalizes importation of contracted
  labor

5
1875 1st Restrictive Legislation

• Prohibits entry of prostitutes, and criminals

6
1882 Exclusions extended

• Prohibited lunatics, imbeciles, and persons
  suffering from loathsome and contagious diseases.

7
1882 Chinese Exclusion Act

• 10 yr ban on all Chinese workers going into
  Calif. Renewed in 1892, 1902 (indefinitely)

8
1885 Labor Law changed

• Contracted laborers were now banned
• If you had a job coming in, you were taking one
  away from a citizen.

9
1888 Expulsions of Aliens

• Provisions were adopted to provide for the
  expulsion of aliens. 1st process to kick people
  out.

10
1888 Scott Act

• Prohibited Chinese from returning to Calif after
  a visit to China unless they had
• 1000 of Land (it was illegal for non-citizens to
  own land)
• Had relatives here in California

11
1903 Consolidation of Immigration Laws

• Polygamists (multi wife's) and political radicals
  were added to the exclusion list

12
1906 Procedural safeguards

• Knowledge of English was made a basic requirement

13
More restrictions - 1906

• People with physical or mental defects, or
  tuberculosis, and children unaccompanied by
  parents. All were added to the exclusion list

14
1917 Added to the list

• Illiterates, alcoholics, stowaways, and vagrants

15
1917 Literacy Act

• Vetoes by the president in 1896, 1913, and 1915.
• Immigrants must be literate in English, and pass
  a basic test to enter

16
1921 Quota Act

• Annual quotas on the number of people admitted
  from a particular country
• Denied women the right to share their husbands
  citizenship
• After World War I a marked increase in racism and
  the growth of isolationist sentiment in the U.S.
  led to demands for further restrictive
  legislation. In 1921 a congressional enactment
  provided for a quota system for immigrants,
  whereby the number of aliens of any nationality
  admitted to the U.S. in a year could not exceed 3
  percent of the number of foreign-born residents
  of that nationality living in the U.S. in 1910.

17
1924 Johnson Red Act (National Origins Act)

• 1st immigration law that establishes a preference
  quota system, and border control system
• Limitation of certain national groups. 2 quota
  based on 1890 census further restricts
  immigration from Europe (WWII)

18
1929 - Quotas of 1924 made permanent

• 1st immigration law that establishes a preference
  quota system, and border control system
• Limitation of certain national groups. 2 quota
  based on 1890 census further restricts
  immigration from Europe (WWII)

19
1943 Bracero Program

• Importation of migrant farm workers to help in
  the cultivation of crops in Calif

20
1943 Chinese Exclusion Act repealed

• Needed China on our side during WWII
• Limited number to 105 per year

21
1946 Soldiers wives, children

• Procedures to facilitate immigration of wartime
  romance/children

22
1948 fleeing persecution

• 1st policy developed to assist those fleeing
  persecution. Granted Asylum.

23
1951 OZ effect

• Labor increases from 41 million in 1920 to 66
  million in 1951.
• Migration from farm to city (oz effect)
• Immigration from non-quota countries in Western
  Hemisphere Puerto Rico, West Indies, etc
• Bracero program

24
1952 hemisphere limitations

• Western Hemisphere unrestricted, Eastern
  Hemisphere - reaffirms quota system.
• Created a preference for skilled workers and
  relatives of citizens

25
1952 McCarren Walter Act

• Makes quota system more ridged, but allows all
  races
• the basic immigration quotas were changed the
  new law provided for annual immigration quotas
  for all countries from which aliens might be
  admitted. Quotas were based on the presumed
  desirability of various nationalities aliens
  from northern and Western Europe were considered
  more desirable than those from southern and
  Eastern Europe. Aliens who fulfilled lawful
  residence requirements were exempt from quotas,
  as were alien wives, children, and some husbands
  of U.S. citizens.

26
1965 National quota system abolished

• Keeps policy by limiting 170,000 hemispheric and
  20,000 per country ceilings to Eastern
  Hemispheric countries, favoring those who had
  relatives, special skills, etc
• 120,000 ceiling on Western Hemisphere, but no
  preference

27
1976 reformed quota

• 20,000 per country applied to Western Hemispheric
  nations.

28
1986 IRCA (Immigration Reform Control Act)

• Legalized aliens who had resided in the US in an
  unlawful status since 1982.
• Sanctions prohibiting employees from hiring,
  recruiting, or assisting in the importation of
  illegal aliens.
• Creates new classification of temporary migrant
  worker

29
1995 - Prop 187

• Restricted medical care, schooling and
  immunization to legal residents of Calif.
• Required county workers (teachers, hospital
  workers, etc) to turn-in/report suspected
  illegals.

30
2000 - Prop 227

• English Only legislation
• 1 Year before English immersion