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Alien and Sedition Acts
This act passed in preparation with war against France. The act required immigrants to live in the United States for 14 years before they could earn citizenship and it gave the power for the government to deport and dangerous foreigners.
Alien and Sedition Acts Website -
Chinese Exclusion Act
This law was the first significant law to restrict immigration to the Undited States as it declared that Chinese were suspended from immigrating to the United States for 10 years. The law also prohibited Chinese from becoming U.S. citizens.
Chinese Exlusion Act Website -
The Immigration Act of 1882
This act levied a tax of 50 cents to all immigrants landing on U.S. ports. The act also makes citizenship ineligible for many groups of people such as lunatics, convicts, idiots, or people who are unable to take care of themselves.
<a href='http://immigrationtounitedstates.org/584-immigration-act-of-1882.html?newsid=584' >Informational website -
Ellis Island
Ellis Island was the first United States Federal immigration station to open. Through the 60 years it was open, 16 million immigrants passed through it. -
Naturalization Act of 1906
This act establishes the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization in the Federal Government. This standardizes naturalization laws. The act also makes konwledge of the English language required for citizenship. Informational Website -
California's Alien Land Law
This law prohited aliens ineligible for citizenship to own or lease property in the state. This law mainly affected the Chinese and Japanese immigrants.
Informational Website -
1917 Immigration Act
This act was one of the first widely restrictive acts as it stated that people 16 years or older had to pass a literacy test to show basic reading comprehension before they could gain citizenship. The law also stated that people from the “Asiatic Barred Zone” were banned from citizenship, except of Japanese and Fillipinos. -
The Immigration Act of 1924
This act limited the number of immigrants who entered the United States by setting a national origins quota. Through the quotas, the act led to an immigration preference from Northern and Western Europe.
Informational Website -
Border Control
The border control was created in 1924 to stop illegal immigrants from crossing the border from Mexico into the United States.
Border Control Website -
The Bracero Program
Mexican farm laborers were transported to the United States in mass number to work in the braceros. The workers would sign a contract to work for a few years then return to Mexico. This caused a lot of illegal immigration into the farming industry. Informational Website -
Operation Wetback
Operation Wetback was the United States military forcing illegal Mexican immigrants to go back to Mexico. Thousands of illegal immigrants were working in the farmlands along the border and the military used force to make them return to Mexico. This showed that the United States had no tolerance for illegal activities.
<a href='Informational Website' >https://1950immigration.wordpress.com/operation-wetba -
The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965
This act abolished the national origin quota for immigration. The act created a new immigration policy that preferenced reuniting immigrant families and attracting skilled labor. From this act, immigration greatly increased from Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Informational Website -
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
This act enabled the use of sanctions and punishments on employers that hired illegal immigrants.
Informational Website -
The USA Patriot Act
Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the government created the USA Patriot Act to protect Americans against terrorist attacks.
Website that outlines the law -
Arizona's Anti-Illegal Immigration Law
This law is also known as the: Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act. This law makes it a state misdemeanor crime to be in Arizona without the required citizenship documentation.
