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Early in the nation's history, Congress declared a preferance for immigrants from Europe. In 1790, it passed a law defining who could become a citizen if a person was not born here: Citizenship was possible only for someone who was "a free white person." This barred any African or Asian immigrant from becoming a citizen.
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One of the heaviest periods of immigration in American history came between 1880 and 1920 when some 25 million immigrants arrived. Most came from the countries of Southeastern and Eastern Europe--parts of the world that were unfamiliar to many Americans.
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In 1882 Congress responded to the San Franciscans and other Californians rallying against the Chinese by passing the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. It said that no Chinese laborer could enter the United States for 10 years. Renewed several times, the act was in force until WW2.
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Congress sets up quotas favoring immigrants from northwestern Europe.
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The Immigration Act of 1924 introduced a quota system by country: Each country's immigrants were limited to 2 percent of foreign-born residents from that country listed in the U.S. Census of 1890.
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In 1965 Congress passed the Immigration Reform Act, abolishing the quota system based on national origin. President Lyndon B. Johnson referred to the old bill as "un-American."
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President Ronald Reagan's Immigration and Reform Control Act had a dual purpose. First, Reagan wanted to slow illegal immigration by punishing employers who knowingly hired undocumented immigrants. Second, he wanted to offer a way for long-term, undocumented immigrants to become legal.
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By 1990, more than 80 percent of American immigrants came from Asia and Latin America. Congress wanted to prevent any one country from making up most of the immigrants to the United States. In order to accomplish this, it passed the Immigration Act of 1990 which said that no country could account for more than 7 percent of total immigrants. The law also considered a person's education skills. In addition, the 1990 law set up special categories for war refugees or close relatives of citizens.
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In 1996 concerns about the continuing problem of illegal immigration led Congress to pass yet another immigration law. It increased the border patrol staff and stiffened penalties for creating false citizenship papers or smuggling undocumented workers.
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President George W. Bush committed himself to backing a bill to address all immigration issues. Bush's bill proposed to fill short-term labor needs through a guest worker program and strengthened border control. Yet Bush argued that his bill was also realistic because it did not propose to track down and deport millions of undocumented workers who were already here.
