List of United States immigration legislation

There have been a number of Immigration Acts in the United States, but the first restriction on immigration did not occur until 1875. Prior to that point, immigration was distinct from citizenship and naturalization.

Pre-1800s

• The Naturalization Act of 1790 established the rules for naturalized citizenship, as per Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, but places no restrictions on immigration. Citizenship is limited to white persons, with no other restriction on non-whites.
• The Naturalization Act of 1795 lengthened required residency to become citizen.
• The Naturalization Act of 1798 further lengthened required residency to become citizen, registers white immigrants to establish date of initial residency.

1800s

• The Naturalization Act of 1870
• The Page Act of 1875 is the first act restricting immigration.
• The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was an explicitly race-based immigration act.
• The 1882 Immigration Act made several categories of immigrants ineligible for citizenship, including "lunatics" and those likely to become public charges
• The Alien Contract Labor Law of 1885 prohibited "the importation and migration of foreigners and aliens under contract or agreement to perform labor in the United States, its territories, and the District of Columbia." ^[1]
• The Act of 1891 established a Commissioner of Immigration in the Treasury Department.^[2]
• The Geary Act of 1892 extended and strengthened the Chinese Exclusion Act

1900s, Pre-World War II

• The Immigration Act of 1903, also called the Anarchist Exclusion Act
• The Naturalization Act of 1906 standardized naturalization procedures, made some knowledge of English a requirement for citizenship, and established the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization
• The Immigration Act of 1917 (Barred Zone Act) restricted immigration from Asia by creating an "Asiatic Barred Zone" and introduced a reading test for all immigrants over 14 years of age, with certain exceptions for children, wives and elderly family members.
• The Immigration Act of 1918, expanding on the provisions of the Anarchist Exclusion Act
• The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 restricted annual immigration from a given country to 3% of the number of people from that country living in the U.S. in 1910
• The Immigration Act of 1924 aimed at freezing the current ethnic distribution in response to rising immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, as well as Asia.
• The National Origins Formula was established with the Immigration act of 1924. Total annual immigration was capped at 150,000. Immigrants fit into two categories: those from quota-nations and those from non-quota nations. Immigrant visas from quota-nations were restricted to the same ratio of residents from the country of origin out of 150,000 as the ratio of foreign-born nationals in the United States. The percentage out of 150,000 was the relative number of visas a particular nation received. Non-quota nations, notably those contiguous to the United States only had to prove an immigrant's residence in that country of origin for at least two years prior to emigration to the U.S. Laborers from Asiatic nations were excluded but exceptions existed for professionals, clergy and students to obtain visas.

1900s, Post-World War II

• The Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act of 1943 repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act and permitted Chinese nationals already in the country to become naturalized citizens.
• The Nationality Act of 1940 pertains chiefly to "Nationality at Birth," Nationality through Naturalization," and "Loss of Nationality". Certain miscellaneous matters are also dealt with.
• The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (or McCarran-Walter Act) somewhat liberalized immigration from Asia, but increased the power of the government to deport illegal immigrants suspected of Communist sympathies.
• The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (or Hart-Cellar Act) discontinued quotas based on national origin, while preference was given to those who have U.S. relatives. For the first time Mexican immigration was restricted.
• The Cuban Refugee Adjustment Act of 1966 gave Cuban nationals who enter, or were already present, in the United States legal status.
• The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 granted a path to citizenship to illegal immigrants who had been in the United States before 1982 but made it a crime to hire an illegal immigrant.
• The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRaIRA) made drastic changes to asylum law, immigration detention, criminal-based immigration, and many forms of immigration relief.

2000s

• The REAL ID Act (2005) created more restrictions on political asylum, severely curtailed habeas corpus relief for immigrants, increased immigration enforcement mechanisms, altered judicial review, and imposed federal restrictions on the issuance of state driver's licenses to immigrants and others.

References

Further reading

• Lemay, Michael and Elliott Robert Barkan, eds. U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Laws and Issues: A Documentary History, Greenwood Press, 1999. ISBN 0313301565
• Zolberg, Aristide. A Nation by Design: Immigration Policy in the Fashioning of America, Harvard University Press, 2006. ISBN 0674022181

External links

• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Historical Immigration and Naturalization Legislation