Historical Events Related to Immigration Issues from U.S. and Arizona History

Naturalization Act of 1790

Mar 2, 1790

This act made it so that to become a naturalized citizen of the United States, you needed a two year residency, to be a "free white person" of "good moral character".

Naturalization Act of 1795

Jan 29, 1795

Required 5 years of residency, and the citizen to renounce their allegiance to their former country.

Importation of Slaves Banned

Oct 5, 1808

The importation of slaves was banned in the US.

Irish Potato Famine

Oct 5, 1840

The shortage of potatoes caused a surge of Irish immigrants to America, looking for a new place to start their lives over.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Feb 2, 1848

This treaty ended the Mexican-American War, and thus offered citizenship to over 70,000 Mexican citizens.

Homestead Act

May 20, 1862

Gave immigrants the opportunity to live on and take care of a piece of land for a minimum of 5 years, with the goal of improving the land. This brought in a huge influx of immigrants from Europe looking for their own land.

Anti-Coolie Act

Oct 5, 1862

This act limited the immigration of Chinese railroad workers.

Chinese Exclusion Act

Oct 5, 1882

Prohibited the immigration of all Chinese Laborers.

Immigration Act of 1917

Feb 4, 1917

This act added the literacy requirements to apply for citizenship.

Expatriation Act

Oct 6, 1917

Made it so that American women who married immigrants would lose their citizenship. This prevented immigrants from becoming citizens.

Alien Registration Act

Oct 6, 1940

First time aliens in the US are required to register and recieve a receipt stating they're in the US legally. This was the predessesor to the "green card". (Formally known as the Smith Act)

Immigration and Reform Control Act

Nov 3, 1986

This made it illegal to hire an illegal alien in the US.

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act

Sep 30, 1996

This act putting greater emphasis on border control in the US, making it harder for immigrants to gain asylum. This also established required income for those sponsering illegal immigrants.

The USA Patriot Act

Oct 26, 2001

Following the 9/11 tragedy, this act made immigration and citizen ship under the jurstiction of the department of homeland security. This also made it so that passports had to be machine-readable.

Arizona Immigration law

Apr 23, 2010

Criminalized being an illegal alien in Arizona, and gave Arizona law enforcement the power to enfore this law.