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Provides the first rules to be followed by the United States in granting national citizenship to “free white people”
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Extends citizenship to all inhabitants living in the territory surrendered to the United States following the Mexican War -
Abolishes slavery, although it did not grant formerly enslaved people the full rights of citizenship
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Grants that all people born or naturalized in the United States are citizens and are guaranteed “equal protection of the laws”
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Extends naturalization rights to former African slaves not born in the United States; Asian immigrants remain excluded from citizenship
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The first United States law to ban immigration based on race or nationality
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U.S. Supreme Court rules in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that any child born in the United States, regardless of race or parents’ citizenship status, is an American citizen -
Signed by President Woodrow Wilson, the Jones-Shafroth Act granted U.S. citizenship to residents of Puerto Rico -
Extends U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans -
Requires all non-citizen adults to register with the government and empowers the president to deport foreigners suspected of espionage or being a security risk
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Congress repealed all the exclusion acts -
Eliminates race as a bar to immigration or citizenship
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Grants amnesty to millions of individuals living in the United States who entered the country before January 1, 1982
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Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to broaden the scope of aliens ineligible for admission or deportation to include terrorist activities