Chinese Immigration

By Flitter

  • 1879 “15 Passenger Bill"

    Congress restricted Chinese immigration by limiting the number of Chinese passengers permitted on any ship coming to the U.S. to 15. Leaders in the Congressional debate expressed the view that Chinese persons were “aliens, not to be trusted with political rights.” President Rutherford B. Hayes vetoed the bill as being inconsistent with U.S.-China treaty commitments that permitted the free movement of peoples.

  • Chinese Exclusion Act (20 Year)

    Congress suspended the immigration of skilled and unskilled Chinese laborers for twenty years, and expressly prohibited state and federal courts from naturalizing Chinese persons. President Chester A. Arthur vetoed this bill for being incompatible with U.S.-China treaty obligations.

  • Chinese Exclusion Act (10 Year)

    In light of President Arthur’s veto of the 20 year ban, Congress revised the Chinese Exclusion Act to impose a ten year ban on the immigration of Chinese laborers. Congress kept in place the provision expressly prohibiting courts from naturalizing Chinese persons. The new act mandated that certain Chinese laborers wishing to reenter the U.S. obtain “certificates of return.” This was the first federal law excluding a single group of people from the United States on the basis of race or ethnic

  • Exclusion Law Amendments

    Congress broadened the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to apply to all persons of Chinese descent, “whether subject of China or any other foreign power.” The amendments also imposed stricter documentation requirements on travel for persons of Chinese descent.

  • Scott Act

    Congress prohibited all Chinese laborers who left the United States, or who in the future would choose to leave, from reentering. The Scott Act canceled all previously issued “certificates of return,” meaning that 20,000 Chinese laborers then overseas who held these certificates could not return to the United States. The Supreme Court recognized that the act abrogated U.S.-China treaty obligations, but nonetheless upheld the act’s validity, reasoning that Congress had absolute authority to exc

  • Geary Act

    Congress extended all previous Chinese Exclusion Laws by ten years. By requiring Chinese persons in the United States to carry a “certificate of residence” at all times, the Geary Act made Chinese persons who could not produce these certificates presumptively deportable unless they could establish residence through the testimony of “at least one credible white witness.” Congress also denied bail to Chinese immigrants who applied for writs of habeas corpus.

  • Exclusion Law Extention

    Congress indefinitely extended all Chinese Exclusion Laws.

  • Exclusion Law Made Permanent

    Congress made permanent all Chinese Exclusion Laws

  • Repeal

    Congress repealed all laws “relating to the exclusion and deportation of the Chinese.” Congress permitted 105 persons of Chinese descent to immigrate into the United States each year, and enabled persons of Chinese descent to become American citizens. The 1943 repeal, however, was enacted a wartime measure to counteract enemy propaganda after China became an ally of the United States during World War II, with little acknowledgment of the injustice of the laws. Neither then nor afterward ha