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The Panic of 1837 was the worst financial crisis of the 19th century in the United States, triggered by easy credit, speculation in western lands, a bursting land price bubble, and the end of the Second Bank of the United States under Andrew Jackson. This led to widespread bank failures, a credit crunch, mass unemployment, and a prolonged economic depression that lasted until 1843. -
In the settlement of the Mexican-American War, this treaty formalized the United States' annexation of a major portion of northern Mexico, El Norte, and conferred citizenship on Mexicans choosing to remain in the territory. -
The Supreme Court designates the authority to legislate and to enforce immigration restrictions a matter of federal authority rather than a state or local power. -
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In 1882, the U.S. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first major federal law to explicitly suspend immigration for a specific nationality. This act prohibited Chinese laborers from entering the United States for 10 years and denied naturalization to existing Chinese immigrants. The act was the culmination of years of anti-Chinese sentiment fueled by racial tensions, economic competition, and a belief that Chinese laborers were taking jobs from white Americans. -
The 1907 Gentlemen's Agreement was an informal, unwritten deal between the U.S. and Japan where Japan voluntarily agreed to restrict the emigration of its laborers to the United States, primarily in exchange for the U.S. government persuading California to end its discriminatory practice of segregating Japanese children in public schools. -
In the 1950s, Irish immigration was dominated by mass emigration, primarily to Britain and the United States, driven by poor economic conditions and limited job opportunities in post-war Ireland. Over 500,000 people left the Republic of Ireland during this period. Immigrants often faced harsh, crowded sea voyages and, upon arrival, discrimination and poor living conditions, though some, particularly in New York, found success by leveraging the Catholic Church. -
The Mariel Boatlift was a large-scale exodus of over 125,000 Cubans from the port of Mariel to Florida between April and October 1980, by Cuban President Fidel Castro's decision to allow emigration follow a period of improving U.S.-Cuba relations and economic downturn in Cuba. The mass migration, characterized by overcrowding and unseaworthy vessels, included an disproportionate number of working-class and mixed-race individuals, well as individuals with criminal records an mental health issues. -
In 2010, Central American asylum flows of unaccompanied minors saw a significant and concerning increase, with numbers surpassing those from the 1980s and early 1990s, driven by severe push factors like high poverty and violence (especially gang violence) in the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. These minors also sought pull factors, such as reuniting with family, and faced a treacherous journey to the U.S. border. -
In 2012, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) through a memo, establishing a program to protect certain young, undocumented immigrants from deportation. DACA provides temporary protection from deportation and work authorization to eligible individuals who meet specific criteria, including continuous residency in the U.S., having entered as a child, and meeting educational or military service requirements. -
During 2020, the United States enacted significant border and processing changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including public health-based expulsions, travel bans from specific countries, and the widespread suspension of routine visa services. These measures severely restricted both legal and illegal immigration, with some policies remaining in effect for years.