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Alien Registration Act
The Alien Registration Act requires the registration and fingerprinting of all aliens in the United States over the age of 14. -
Cuba Allows 125,000 Cubans to Illegally Depart for the US
"In 1980... the Cuban government allowed 125,000 Cubans to illegally depart for the United States from the port of Mariel, an incident known as the 'Mariel boatlift.' In 1984, the United States and Cuba negotiated an agreement to resume normal immigration, and to return to Cuba those persons who had arrived during the boatlift who were 'excludable' under U.S. law." -
Refugee Act of 1980 Allows Persecuted Individuals to Seek Asylum in US
"The primary goal of the Refugee Act of 1980 (70KB)  was to bring U.S. law into compliance with the requirements of international law. Though domestic U.S. law has long contained provisions designed to protect certain persons fearing persecution, U.S. accession to the 1967 Refugee Protocol created certain specific legal obligations pursuant to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Years of controversy about these obligations led to the passage of the Refugee Act. The act conta -
1986
By 1986, some three million undocumented immigrants had come to reside in the United States. President Ronald Reagan, Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), and the congressional leadership worked together to grant amnesty to these immigrants in a bill that simultaneously introduced stricter penalties for employers who hire undocumented immigrants. The penalties were never substantially enforced, so the primary mechanism of enforcing immigration policy in subsequent years consisted of sporadic raids and -
Immigration Act
Immigration Act of 1990 increases the number who may legally immigrate. -
1994
The passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), coupled with the Mexican economic collapse of 1994, brought an estimated 13 million new undocumented immigrants to the United States over the next 15 years. -
California's Prop 187
California’s Proposition 187, which would have denied health care, education and welfare benefits to illegal immigrants, is approved by voters but later ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge. -
Border Patrol
In 1996, Congress passed legislation mandating jail time for some criminal aliens and authorizing the hiring of more Border Patrol agents over the next several years. Deportees could now also be held in jail for up to two years before appearing before an immigration board. And power was given to local law enforcement in the border states to deputize police forces to uphold immigration laws. -
Department of Homeland Security
2003: With the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the Immigration and Naturalization Service is replaced by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. -
U.S. Mexico Border
"Minute-man Project” begins recruiting civilians to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border. -
Secure the Fence Act
2006: The Secure Fence Act of 2006 authorizes construction of hundreds of miles of additional fencing along the southern border, more vehicle barriers, checkpoints and lighting, and increased use of advanced technology, such as cameras and satellites, to prevent illegal border crossings. -
Illegal Crossing crackdowns
2008: While Mexico's Congress voted to decriminalize illegal immigration in its country in spring 2008, the U.S. ramped up Operation Streamline in an effort to prosecute more illegal border crossings. In April 2008, the U.S. Justice Department announced it would spend $7 million to send more than 60 more prosecutors to border districts to prosecute border crimes, such as human smuggling. -
2010
The passage of Arizona SB 1070, which allows law enforcement officials who have not been trained in immigration policy to demand papers from any Arizona residents they deem suspicious, is generally regarded as one of the most blatant examples of racial profiling legislation in U.S. history. Even as its status is currently being assessed by the federal court system, other states are considering similar legislation.
