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Immigration Act is Passed
The first significant federal immigration law
sets standards for ships bringing immigrants to
the U.S. Ship captains have to provide customs
officials with a list of immigrants describing
where they came from, where they are going,
and their age, sex, and occupation. A year later,
120,000 immigrants arrive from Europe. -
A Wave of Newcomers
Immigrants from around the world land
in the United States. Poor crop harvests in
Germany, political unrest in Europe and
the Irish potato famine (1845-51) force
them to leave their homes. The Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) ends the Mexican-American
War and extends citizenship
to the 80,000 Mexicans in
Texas, California, and the
Southwest. The California
gold rush (1849) attracts
immigrants from Europe,
Australia, Latin America
and China. -
U.S.-Born Residents are citizens
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution is
ratified, making clear that all people born in the
U.S., including former slaves, are citizens. The
amendment voids the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision
in which the Supreme Court said slaves
were not citizens. -
Restrictions Imposed on Immigration
A
large influx from China prompts the Chinese
Exclusion Act of 1882, which denies Chinese
laborers entry into the U.S. and citizenship.
The Immigration Act of 1882 levies a
50-cent tax on immigrants landing at U.S.
ports and makes several categories of immigrants,
including “lunatics,” ineligible
for citizenship. Over time, the banned list
includes, among others, convicts, prostitutes
and polygamists. In 1886, France gives the
Statue of Liberty to the U.S -
Ellis Island Immigration Center Opens
The New York center will process 12 million
immigrants by the time it closes in 1954. On
the West Coast, in 1910, the Angel Island Immigration
Station opens in San Francisco Bay
to control the flow of Asians into the country.
These centers are run by the Bureau of Immigration,
created in 1891 under the Treasury
Department. -
Dillingham Report Warns of Subversion
The Dillingham Commission publishes a
42-volume report warning that the “new” immigration
from Southern and Eastern Europe
threatens to subvert American society. Its
recommendations pave the way for the Quota
Acts of the 1920s. The first act, the National
Origins Act of 1921, limits immigrants to 3
percent of each nationality present in the U.S.
in 1910. The second act in 1924 changes the
quota to 2 percent of each nationality based
on numbers in the U.S. in 1890. -
The U.S. Border Patrol Established
The U.S. Border Patrol is created, in large part to
control Chinese immigration to the U.S. across
the U.S.-Mexico border. Also, the Immigration
and Naturalization Act imposes the first permanent
numeric limits on immigration. -
Alien Registration Act Is Passed
The federal law requires
all immigrants over the
age of 14 to be fingerprinted
and registered.
A decade later, all immigrants
are required to
report their addresses annually -
Terrorist Attacks Prompt Tougher Restrictions
After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, the U.S. Patriot
Act amends the Immigration and Nationality
Act to broaden the scope of immigrants ineligible
for admission or deportable because of terrorist
activities. The new Department of Homeland
Security replaces the Immigration and Naturalization
Service. -
States Enact Tough Laws
Republicans and Democrats agree on the need for a sweeping change in federal
immigration laws, but little is achieved on the controversial issue. In the absence
of federal laws, state legislatures begin to combat illegal immigration with their
own tough laws, such as restricting access to public benefits and driver’s licenses
and cracking down on human smuggling.