Immigration history

US History Immigration Policies (1800- present)

  • Page Act of 1870

    It was the first federal law and prohibited the entry of immigrants considered "undesierable" The Law classified as "undesierable" any individual from Asia who was coming to America to be forced laborer, any Asian women who would engage prostitution and all people considered to be convicts in thier own country. It was suppose to strengthen the ban against "collie" laborers.
  • Naturalization Act

    It created a system of controls for the naturalization process and penalties for fraudent practicies. It also noted permitting "aliens of African nativity descent" to become naturalized citizens of the US. Other non-whites were not included in this act. It was passed by the 41 US Congress and signed into law by Ulyses S. Grant.
  • Chinese law

    In 1882 Congress passed an Exclusion Act that baned Chinese from immigrating to the United states. The ChineseExclusion Act also made it immpossible for the Chinese immigrants to become US citizens
  • The Geary Act of 1892

    A law passed in 1892 written by California Congressmen Thomas J. Geary. It extended the Chinese Exclusiom Act by adding onerous new requierments. The law required all Chinese residents of the US to carry a resident permit. Failure to carry the permit was punishable by deportation or hard labor.
  • Immigration Act of 1903

    It was also Known as the Anarchist Exclusion Act. It was a law of the US regulating immigration. It codified previous immigration law and added four inadmissble classes: anarchist, people with epilepsy, beggars, and importers of prostitues.
  • Naturalization Act of 1906

    An Act signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt that revised the law from 1870 and required immigrants to learn English in order to become naturalized citizens. The bill was passed on June 29, 1906, and took effect September 27, 1906
  • Immigartion Act of 1917

    It restricted immigration from Asia by creating an "Asiatic Barred Zone" and introduced a reading test for all immigrants over 14 years of age, with certain exceptions for children, wives and elderly family members.
  • Immigration Act of 1918

    expanding on the provisions of the Anarchist Exclusion Act
  • Emergency Quota Act of 1921

    restricted annual immigration from a given country to 3% of the number of people from that country living in the U.S. in 1910
  • Immigration Act of 1924

    It was also known as the Johnson Act. It aimed at freezing the current ethnic distribution in response to rising immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, as well as Asia. Introduced nationality quotas.
  • National Origins Formula

    was established with the Immigration act of 1924. Total annual immigration was capped at 150,000. Immigrants fit into two categories: those from quota-nations and those from non-quota nations. Immigrant visas from quota-nations were restricted to the same ratio of residents from the country of origin out of 150,000 as the ratio of foreign-born nationals in the United States.
  • Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act of 1943

    repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act and permitted Chinese nationals already in the country to become naturalized citizens.
  • Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952

    somewhat liberalized immigration from Asia, but increased the power of the government to deport illegal immigrants suspected of Communist sympathies.
  • Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965

    discontinued quotas based on national origin, while preference was given to those who have U.S. relatives. For the first time Mexican immigration was restricted.
  • Cuban Refugee Adjusment Act of 1966

    It gave Cuban nationals who enter, or were already present, in the United States legal status.
  • Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986

    It granted a path to citizenship to illegal immigrants who had been in the United States before 1982 but made it a crime to hire an illegal immigrant.
  • Immigration Act of 1990

    It increased the total immigration limit to 700,000 and increased visas by 40 percent. Family reunification was retained as the main immigration criterion, with significant increases in employment-related immigration.
  • Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant responsponsiblity Act

    It made drastic changes to asylum law, immigration detention, criminal-based immigration, and many forms of immigration relief.
  • REAL ID Act

    It created more restrictions on political asylum, severely curtailed habeas corpus relief for immigrants, increased immigration enforcement mechanisms, altered judicial review, and imposed federal restrictions on the issuance of state driver's licenses to immigrants and others
  • Arizona law

    Its the nations toughest bill on illegal immigrations. It's aim is prosecute/deport illegal immigrants. It's known ad Senate Bill 1070. The law’s supporters said it reflected frustration over inaction by the federal government, while critics said it would lead to harassment of Hispanics and turn the presumption of innocence upside down.
  • Alabama Law

    It is known as Alabama HB 56 an it is an anti-illegal immigration bill signed into law in the US state of Alabama. The Alabama law requires that if police have "reasonable suspicion" that a person is an immigrant unlawfully present in the United States, in the midst of any legal stop, detention or arrest, to make a similarly reasonable attempt to determine that person's legal status