-
First Sights Of Immigration
English settlers from Great Britain came on boat to America. Here they settled in a place called James River. This was the first real start of a long journey to immigrate to a new country for the English. -
Required Permission To Host "Aliens"
Massachusetts at this put in a law that required the citizens to report and have permission from the government or authorities to host "aliens" also known as immigrants. Even at an early age there was a stigma that surrounded those that were seen as foreign. -
Alien Naturalization Act
In March of 1790 the first alien naturalization act was created by the United States government. This act created the first set of rules to be followed by all citizens in America. However, this act was limited to slaves, women, and servants. "Any alien, being a free white person may be admitted to become a United States citizen." -
Foreign Slave Trade
50,000 slaves are shipped off to the US. This made them to become the first "illegal aliens" coming into the US. -
Supreme Court Rule
Due to immense immigration due to slavery, it was concluded that Congress had the power to regulate immigration within the US. Therefore they must come up with laws and rules. -
Ellis Island
Ellis Island opens as an immigrant entry checkpoint, where people can come into the US legally. -
Immigration Influx
From January 1, 1905 to December 31,1914, an estimated of 10-13 million immigrants entered the United States. This was by far the largest influx of immigration into the US. Many were coming from Italy, Ireland and Germany. -
Angel Island
Angel Island located in San Francisco became one of the largest immigration check points on the West Coast. At times it was compared to Ellis Island. Angel Island was an entry point for millions of people from the East, specifically Japan, China and Philippines. -
Woodrow Wilson
In December 14, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson enacted an Immigration Act. In this act it required immigrants to pass basic literacy requirement tests and additionally put bans all Asian immigration except for Japanese and Filipinos. -
Emergency Quota Act
In 1921 Congress and the President passed a law limiting the total number of immigrants to not exceed 3%. Due to high amounts of immigration the US needed to put a cap on the number of people they would be letting into the country. -
Labor Appropriation Act
In 1928, Congress passes a bill in which the Border Patrol was created. The main purpose of Border Patrol was to track and monitor immigrant labor. This was intended to help eliminate foreign threats to the American economy, liking taking jobs. -
Alien Registration Act
In 1940 Congress passed this bill that required documentation of new immigrants to be fingerprinted and to be registered. If those did not have these issued during their immigration into the US they faced possible deportation. The US at this times starts to take immigration more seriously, and looks at the possible effects it might have on natively born US citizens. -
US Patriot Act
This bill that was passed holds a lot of controversial ideas around it. It provided appropriated tools and intelligence measures to intercept and interfere with counterterrorism measures. Due to terrorist acts within the US from those from foreign countries, the government felt a need to look more closely at immigrants. -
Arizona V US
United States Supreme Court case involving Arizona's Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act. The issue was whether local law could change the federal government's authority to regulate immigration laws and enforcement. All justices agreed to uphold the provision of the law allowing Arizona state police to investigate the immigration status of an individual stopped, detained, or arrested if there is reasonable suspicion that individual is in the country illegally. -
DACA
In 2012 President Obama Signs Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) which is an act that allows undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children to stay in the country. Children who came into the US undocumented under the DACA act are allowed to remain in the country without fear of deportation and are able to work and go to school.
