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Early in the nation's history, Congress declared a preference for immigrants from Europe. 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"
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This was the heaviest period of immigration in American History. 25 million immigrants arrived. Most came from the countries of Southern and Eastern Europe-parts of the world that were unfamiliar to many Americans.
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No Chinese laborer could enter the United States for 10 years. (Chinese professionals were still allowed to immigrate).
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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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Introduced a quota system by country.
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Abolishing the quota system based on national origin. Inspired largely by the civil righrs movement and its ideal of equality and social justice.
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Ronald Reagan's Immigration act had a dual purpose. He wanted to show illegal immigration by punishing employers who knowingly hired undocumented immigrants. He wanted to offer a way for long-term, undocumented immigrants to become legal.
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More then 80% 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. The Act of 1990 said that no country could account for more than 7% of total immigrants. The law also considered a person's education and skills. In addition the law set up special categories for war refuge or close relatives of American citizens.
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The illegal immigration led Congress to pass yet another immirgation law. It increased the border patrol staff and stiffed 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. The bill proposed to fill short-term labor needs thourgh a guest worker program and strengthen border control. The bill would also have fined undocumented immigrants and required them to fulfill certain obligations before they could apply for citizenship what the administration called "a path to citizenship."
