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U.S. Citizenship begins/ Nationality Act of 1790
The first law to define eligibility for citizenship by naturalization and establish standards and procedures by which immigrants became US citizens. In this early version, Congress limited this important right to “free white persons.” -
Alien and Sedition Act of 1798
Congress enacted deportation laws targeting persons deemed political threats to the United States in response to conflicts in Europe. -
Ban on importation of any negro, or person of colour
The Haitian revolution led Congress to ban immigration by free blacks to contain anti-slavery campaigners -
Irish Immigration
The Irish started to move into the U.S. Close to 5 million German along as well. -
Steerage Act of 1819
The Steerage Act of 1819 made captains improve traveling conditions as well as disclose the demographics of who was on board. This was passed to address the many immigrates that became sick due to the poor conditions on ships during immigration. -
Indian Removal Act
President Andrew Jackson authorized the confiscation of land from Native Americans and provided resources for their forced removal west of the Mississippi River. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
This treaty formalized the United States' annexation of a major portion of northern Mexico, El Norte, and granted citizenship on Mexicans choosing to remain in the territory. -
Passenger Cases
Authority designated by The Supreme Court to legislate and to enforce immigration restrictions, making this a matter of Federal authority instead of state or local power. -
People v. Hall
California Supreme Court case ruled that the testimony of a Chinese man who witnessed a murder by a white man was inadmissible, denying Chinese, Native and African Americans the status to testify in courts against whites -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
This Supreme Court ruling was a landmark decision in which the court held that the United States Constitution was not meant to include American Citizenship for people of black African desent. -
Anti-Coolie Act of 1862
An act passed by the California State Legislature to protect Free White Labor against competition with Chinese Coolie Labor. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 executive order freeing the slaves held in the Confederate states. -
Immigration Act of 1864
This law legalized labor recruitment practices similar to indentured servitude in an attempt to encourage immigration to the United States, but it was quickly repealed in July of 1865. -
Burlingame Treaty / 14th Amendment
This international agreement secured US access to Chinese workers by guaranteeing rights of free migration to both Chinese and Americans. This agreement was negotiated during construction of the Transcontinental Railroad which relied heavily on Chinese labor. Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed birthright citizenship for all persons born in the United States. It also provided for equal protections and due process for all legal residents. -
Naturalization Act of 1870
Explicitly extended naturalization rights already enjoyed by white immigrants to “aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent,” thus denying access to the rights and protections of citizenship to other nonwhite immigrant groups. -
Page Law / Chy Lung v. Freeman
Page Law
Prohibited the recruitment to the United States of unfree laborers and women for “immoral purposes” but was enforced primarily against Chinese. Chy Lung v. Freeman
Supreme Court decision that affirmed the federal government holds sole authority to regulate immigration. -
Angell Treaty of 1880
Allowed the United Stated to restrict the migration of certain categories of Chinese workers. U.S. immigration policy moved closer to outright Chinese exclusion. This treaty updated the 1868 Burlingame Treaty with China. -
Chinese Exclusion Act / Immigration Act of 1882
U.S. immigration policy toward growing restrictiveness. The law targeted Chinese immigrants for restriction-- the first such group identified by race and class for severely limited legal entry and ineligibility for citizenship. Immigration legislation that expanded the ranks of excludable aliens to include other undesirable persons and attributes such as "convicts," "lunatics," and "those likely to become a public charge." -
Elk v. Wilkins
The Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment did not apply to Native Americans who did not automatically gain citizenship by birth and could therefore be denied the right to vote. -
The Dawes Allotment Act
Congress authorized the president to allot (separate into individual landholdings) tribal reservation lands due to the complaints about the reservation system for Native Americans. Native Americans receiving allotments could gain U.S. citizenship, but often lost their land. -
Scott Act of 1888
Congress extended domestic authority over immigration to improve enforcement of the Chinese exclusion laws. -
Immigration Bureau established / Immigration Act of 1891
Immigration Bureau
Congress realized the challenges of enforcing immigration exclusions, leading it to authorize and fund a dedicated immigration bureau responsible both for processing legal immigrants and enforcing immigration restrictions. Immigration Act of 1891
This law clarified and centralized the immigration enforcement authority of the federal government. It extended immigration inspection to land borders and expanded the list of excludable and deportable immigrants. -
Geary Act
Congress renewed the Chinese exclusion laws and expanded enforcement mechanisms. Requiring that Chinese prove their lawful presence in the United States by carrying a Certificate of Residence or be liable for detention and deportation. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Supreme Court case validated racial segregation by ruling that the equal protections principles mandated by the Fourteenth Amendment could be honored with facilities that were "separate but equal." -
United States v. Wong Kim Ark
Established the precedent that any person born in the United States is a citizen by birth regardless of race or parents' status. Ruled by the Supreme Court -
Expatriation Act of 1907
Under the principle that women assumed the citizenship of their husbands. This act stripped citizenship from U.S. born women when they married noncitizen immigrant men. -
Alien Land Laws in California
Laws that banned "aliens ineligible for citizenship" from owning or leasing land. Led by California along with many other western states. The Supreme Court upheld these laws as constitutional. -
Barred Zone Act / Jones-Shafroth Act
Barred Zone Act
This law is best known for its creation of a “barred zone” extending from the Middle East to Southeast Asia. No persons were allowed to enter the United States. The main restriction consisted of a literacy test, which intended to reduce European immigration. Jones-Shafroth Act
Granted U.S. citizenship for Puerto Ricans after the United States acquired the island as an incorporated territory in 1898. -
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Wartime Measure / Palmer Raids / Emergency Quota Law
Wartime Measure of 1918
Gave Executive branch powers to enforce immigration restrictions during World War I. It aimed at anarchists and potential radicals. The Palmer Raids (1919-1920)
The U.S. Department of Justice conducted a series of raids to round up, arrest, and deport suspected anarchists and radicals. Emergency Quota Law (1921)
Fears of increased immigration after World War I, and the spread of radicalism propelled Congress to enact this measure imposing drastic caps on immigration. -
Cable Act
When women gained suffrage with the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, Congress enacted this law to restore citizenship to U.S. born women who had married noncitizen husbands and thereby lost their citizenship under the Expatriation Act of 1907. -
Indian Citizenship Act / Immigration Act / Labor Appropriations Act
Indian Citizenship Act
This law stipulated that Native Americans born in the United States were automatically citizens by birth. Native Americans were the last main group to gain this right set forth in the Fourteenth Amendment. Immigration Act (Johnson-Reed Act)
To limit immigration, this law established extended "national origins" quotas. Labor Appropriations Act
In 1924 Congress authorized funding for the Border Patrol to regulate crossings occurring between immigration stations. -
Mexican Repatriation / Undesirable Aliens Act
Mexican Repatriation (1929-1936)
Border Patrol launched several campaigns to detain Mexicans, including some U.S. born citizens, and expel them across the border. Undesirable Aliens Act of 1929 (Blease’s Law)
Criminalized crossing the border outside an official port of entry. This was primarily designed to restrict Mexican immigration, this law made unlawfully entering the country a misdemeanor and returning after a deportation a felony. -
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Bracero Agreement / Executive Order 9066 / Repeal of Chinese Exclusion
Bracero Agreement (1942-1964)
The U.S. government brokered with the Mexican government to recruit Mexican workers, to work on short-term on farms and in other war industries. Executive Order 9066 (1942-1945)
War-time executive order authorizing the rounding up and incarceration of Japanese Americans, living 100 miles from the west coast. Repeal of Chinese Exclusion (1943)
The importance of China as the U.S. chief ally in the Pacific war against Japan led to repeal the Chinese Exclusion laws. -
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Ex Parte Endo / War Brides Acts
Ex Parte Endo (1944)
The Supreme Court authorized the end of Japanese American incarceration. ruled that concededly loyal U.S. citizens could not be held, regardless of the principle of military necessity. War Brides Acts (1945 & 1946)
Exception to the national origins quotas imposed by the Immigration Act of 1924. This was to help World War II soldiers and veterans bring back foreign spouses and fiances they had met while serving in the military. -
Displaced Persons Act
After the war, under pressure from the White House and Department of State, Congress authorized admissions for refugees from Europe and permitted asylum seekers already in the U.S. to regularize their status. -
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 / H-2 Guestworker Visa Program
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952
Reformed some of the obvious discriminatory provisions in immigration law. The law provided quotas for all nations and ended racial restrictions on citizenship. It expanded immigration enforcement and retained offensive national origins quotas. H-2 Guestworker Visa Program
Authorized a nonimmigrant visa category, permitting the recruitment of foreign farmworkers to the United States on a temporary basis. -
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Refugee Relief Act / Operation Wetback
Refugee Relief Act (1953)
Provided 214,000 visas to refugees, primarily from Europe but with 5,000 designated for the Far East. Operation Wetback (1953-1954)
The Bracero Program continued to recruit temporary workers from Mexico. The Immigration Bureau led round ups of Mexican nationals. Deporting one-million Mexicans. -
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Act of September 26, 1961 / An Act (1962) / Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
Act of September 26, 1961
Categorizing international adoption as a form of family reunification. An Act (1962)
Facilitate the entry of alien skilled specialists and certain relatives of United States citizens, and for other purposes. Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
Abolished an earlier quota system based on national origin. It established a new immigration policy based on reuniting immigrant families and attracting skilled labor to the U.S. -
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Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 / United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Refugee Protocol /
Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966
Anti-communist Cubans received preferential immigration conditions. This law provided them permanent status and resources to help adjustment to life in the U.S. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Refugee Protocol
The UNHCR issued this protocol in 1967 to implement the goals of the 1951 Refugee Convention. This protocol implements persons in flight from persecution and danger cannot be forced to return to places of danger -
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Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act (1975) / Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1976 and 1978
Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act (1975)
The United States admitted about 135,000 Vietnamese and other Southeast Asians in the months following the fall of Saigon. They were settled across the U.S. with resources to help them establish new lives. Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1976 and 1978
The 1976 Amendments extended to the Western Hemisphere a per country ceiling of 20,000. In 1978, the law was amended to establish a single worldwide annual ceiling of 290,000. -
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Refugee Act of 1980 / Mariel Boatlift of 1980 / Plyler v. Doe (1982)
Refugee Act of 1980
This law made U.S. refugee policy more responsive to changing situations through the implementation of annual admissions quotas that could be adjusted annually after consultation between Congress and the White House.
Mariel Boatlift of 1980
The mass movement of 125,000 Cuban asylum seekers to the United States. Plyler v. Doe (1982)
Public school districts cannot constitutionally refuse admission to unauthorized immigrant children. -
Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) (1986)
Addressing the issue of illegal immigration, Congress provided amnesty for certain long-term residents to gain legal permanent status. The law imposed more restrictions and regulatory provisions to improve enforcement of existing laws. Steady increases to immigration enforcement agencies and greater requirements for employers to check the work authorization of employees. -
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Immigration Act of 1990 / Chinese Student Protection Act (1992)
Immigration Act of 1990
Implementing the H-1B visa program for skilled temporary workers. Some provisions for conversion to permanent status. Chinese Student Protection Act (1992
Response to the brutal Chinese government crackdowns on student protests in Tiananmen in 1989, this law allowed Chinese students living in the United States to gain legal permanent status. -
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Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) / Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (1996) / The Flores Settlement
(IIRIRA) (1996)
IIRIRA empowered federal authorities to enforce immigration restrictions by adding resources for border policing and for verification of employment credentials. (NACARA)
Allowed certain Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Nicaraguans who fled violence and poverty in their homelands to file for asylum and remain in the United States. The Flores Settlement
The settlement set federal standards for the treatment and release of children in detention. -
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Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act (2002) / Homeland Security Act (2002)
Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act (2002)
After the attacks of September 11th, 2001 the U.S. government acted to expand the budget, staffing, and powers of the immigration enforcement bureaucracy. Homeland Security Act (2002)
Created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Consolidating 22 diverse agencies and bureaus. The creation of DHS reflected mounting anxieties about immigration in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. -
Secure Fence Act (2006)
A law that mandated the Secretary of Homeland Security to act quickly to achieve operational control over U.S. international land and maritime borders. This includes an expansion of existing walls, fences, and surveillance. -
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Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) (2012) / DAPA and DACA Program expanded
(DACA) (2012)
Executive order that provided protection from deportation and work authorization to persons who arrived as minor children and had lived in the United States since June 15, 2007. DAPA and DACA Program expanded
Executive order issued by the Obama White House sought to defer deportation. and other protections for unauthorized immigrants whose children were either American citizens or lawful permanent residents. -
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Muslim Travel Ban
Muslim Travel Ban
Refers to a series of the Trump administration's executive orders that prohibited travel and refugee resettlement from select predominately Muslim countries.