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First Settlement
The first English settlement paved the way for a new country to be born. The country of the United States was founded on European immigration. It later faced issues dealing with immigration and laws had to be created to regulate the issue. -
Naturalization Act of 1790
The Naturalization Act of 1790 granted immigrants who were "free white persons" of "good character" citizenship. It excluded American Indians, indentured servants, slaves, free blacks, and Asians. -
Alien and Sedition Acts
The Alien and Sedition Acts were four laws that increased the residency requirement for American citizenship for 5 to 14 years. It also granted permission to the president to imprison or deport immigrants if they were considered "dangerous to the peace and safety in the US". It restricted speech critical of the government. -
State Immigration Laws Become Unconstitutional
The Federal government took control over immigration in the country. Immigration would no longer be a state power for the first time. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first law that restriced immigration into the US. It suspended Chinese immigration for ten years and declared Chinese as ineligable for naturalization. The Chinese Exclusion Act paved the way for other laws dealing with immigration to be created. -
Creation of the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization
With the passing of the Naturalization Act came the creation of the Bureau of Immigration. The Bureau dealt with all cases dealing with immigrants and naturalization. It later became part of the Department of Justice. -
Mexican Revolution
With the Revolution happening, many citizens of Mexico fled north into the US as refuge. These immigrants were included into the American economy as they were offered jobs. -
Bracero Program
The Bracero Program brought 5 million Mexican workers to work in US farm and railroads. The program would only allow workers to be in the country temporarily. -
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 legalized illegal immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982. These immigrants had to provide certain documentation, pay a fine, been free from crime, and demonstrated knowledge on the US and the English language, among other requirements. -
Immigration Act of 1990
The Immigration Act of 1990 increased the number of legal immigrants allowed into the US each year. Seven-hundred thousand new immigrants would be admitted into the country. It created a program that allowed countries who were not granted visas be randomly assigned a number of visas. -
USA PATRIOT Act
The PATRIOT ACT granted authority to intercept personal information of people who were expected to be involved with terrorism. This law showed how the US was threatened by foreigners because of terrorist attacks. The US could invade the privacy of anyone they felt threatened by. This usually meant that they would discriminate against those who fit a terrorist "image". -
Secure Fence Act
The Secure Fence Act called for the building of a 700 mile fence along the US southern border. It also called for the hiring of more border personnel and technological surveillance. -
SB 1070 Signed into Law
The state of Arizona signed SB 1070 into law that gave the state authority over immigration. SB 1070 made it a misdemeanor crime for an immgrant to be in Arizona without carrying the required documents. Anyone considered to be under "reasonable suspicion" could be detained and asked for documentation. -
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
DACA was signed into law by President Obama. It allowed undocument immigrants who met certain criteria to stay in the US and be granted state priviledges like driver's licenses and work permits. It allowed these immigrants to pursue postsecondary education as well. -
Naturalization Act of 1906
The Naturalization Act of 1906 was signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt. This law called for all immigrants to be fluent English speakers in order to become naturalized citizens. If immigrants could not meet this criteria, they could were not considered qualified to be US citizens. This shows the intolerance of US citizens to those who could not speak their language. They were not willing to work to teach immigrants English. They expected immigratns to already be speakers of the language.
