Magnuson Act
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Magnuson Act also known as the Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act of 1943 was immigration legislation proposed by Senator Warren G. Magnuson and signed into law on December 17, 1943 in the United States. It allowed Chinese immigration for the first time since the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, and allowed Chinese nationals already residing in the country to become naturalized citizens. This marked the first time since the Naturalization Act of 1790 that any Asians were permitted to be naturalized.
It was passed during World War II, when China was a welcome ally to the United States. The Chinese Exclusion Act had become an embarrassment in China/US relations. However the Magnuson Act did not create an open door. It limited Chinese immigrants to 105 persons to be selected by the U.S. government. That quota was determined by the Immigration Act of 1924, which set immigration from an allowed country at 2% of the number of people who were already living in the United States in 1890 of that nationality. Chinese immigration later increased with the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965.[1]
