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Adoption of the 14th Amendment
Anyone born in the United States would become a citizen. Previously The Naturalization Act of 1790 only granted to "free white persons" and later extended to African Americans in 1870 -
Page Act
It prohibited immigrants considered "undesirable" from entering the U.S. This was mainly geared toward Chinese laborers and prostitutes -
Chinese Exclusion Act
It was the first major law to restrict immigration in the United States. This was in response to economic fears, especially on the west coast, where Americans blamed unemployment and declining wages on Chinese workers who they viewed as racially inferior. -
Immigration act of 1917
This act excluded more people from immigrating such as homosexuals, epileptics, alcoholics, and other mentally or physically defective people. It also created a literacy test for immigrants over the age of 16 years old entering the U.S. The most controversial part was that it barred people from the “Asiatic Barred Zone” from immigrating to the U.S. -
Immigration Act of 1924
Introduced the quota system to limit the amount of immigrants coming from a single nation. Western and Northern European states were favored. -
Period: to
Repeal of Chinese Exclusion Act and admiting of other asian immigrants
To create unity among the allies the Chinese Exclusion acts were repealed and China’s quota was set to a token 105 visas annually. The repeal of the act paved the way for measures in 1946 to admit Filipino and Asian-Indian immigrants. -
Immigration and Nationality Act
Eliminated race as a bar to immigration or citizenship -
Immigration Act of 1990
Increased limits on legal immigration to the U.S. and revised all grounds for exclusion and deportation, authorized temporary protected status to aliens of designated countries, and revised and established new nonimmigrant admission categories. -
U.S. Patriot Act
Amended the Immigration and Nationality Act to broaden the scope of immigrants ineligible for admission or deportable due to terrorist activities