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In 1790, Congress 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."
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One of the heaviest periods of immigration in American history came between 1880 & 1920. During this time, some 25 million immigrants arrived. Most of the immigrants came from the countries of Southern and Eastern Europe.
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In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. This act said that no Chinese laborer could enter the U.S. for 10 years (Chinese professionals were still allowed to immigrate). Renewed several times, the act was in force until WWII. During that conflict, China was an ally and Congress repealed the law.
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Congress set up quotas favoring immigrants from NW Europe.
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The Immigration Act of 1924 introduced a quota system by country: Each country's immigrants were limited to 2% 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. This act abolished the quota system based on national origin.
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Pres. Reagan's Immigration and Reform Control Act had a dual purpose: 1) He wanted to slow illegal immigration by punishing employers who knowingly hired undocumented immigrants 2) He wanted to offer a way for long-term, undocumented immigrants to become legal.
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This act said that no country could account for more than 7% of total immigrants. The law also considered a person's education and skills.
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Concerns about the continuing problem of illegal immigration led Congress to pass another immigration law; it increased the border control staff and stiffened penalties for creating false citizenship papers or smuggling undocumented workers.
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Pres. 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. 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 there.
