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Immigration policies 1850's-Present
Immigration in America has increased over time. Throughout all these years, many federal laws have been forced upon these immigrants. In this timeline, several acts from the 1850's to the present will be described. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalup Hidalgo ended the U.S.-Mexican War. It is the oldest treaty still in force between the United States and Mexico. As a result of the treaty, the United States acquired more than 500,000 square miles of valuable territory and emerged as a world power in the late nineteenth century. -
Page Act of 1875
This was the first federal immigration law and prohibited the entry of immigrants that were considered "undesirable". -
Chinese Exclusion Act
Allowed the U.S. to suspend Chinese immigration, a ban that was intended to last 10 years. -
Naturalization Act of 1906
Signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt that revised the law from 1870 and required immigrants to learn English in order to become naturalized citizens. -
Barred Zones of 1917
Barred Zone Act restricted immigration from Asia by creating an "Asiatic Barred Zone" and introduced a reading test for all immigrants over 14 years of age, with certain exceptions for children, wives and elderly family members. -
Emergency Quota Act
Limited Southern & Eastern immigration by each nation to 3% of the number of foreigners born in that nation. Ironically, allowed British, Irish & Germans to come in large number. -
National Origins Act
- Set the quota @ 2% of the number of foreign born persons into the US.
- Excluded ALL Asians
- Did NOT limit Canadian or Mexican immigration.
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Johnson Act
aimed at freezing the current ethnic distribution in response to rising immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, as well as Asia. Introduced nationality quotas. -
McCarren-Walter Act
Somewhat liberalized immigration from Asia, but increased the power of the government to deport illegal immigrants suspected of Communist sympathies. -
Hart-Cellar Act
Discontinued quotas based on national origin, while preference was given to those who have U.S. relatives. For the first time Mexican immigration was restricted. -
Immigration Reform and Control Act
Granted a path to citizenship to illegal immigrants who had been in the United States before 1982 but made it a crime to hire an illegal immigrant. -
Immigration Act of 1990
Increased the total immigration limit to 700,000 and increased visas by 40 percent. Family reunification was retained as the main immigration criterion, with significant increases in employment-related immigration. -
Real ID act
Created more restrictions on political asylum, severely curtailed habeas corpus relief for immigrants, increased immigration enforcement mechanisms, altered judicial review, and imposed federal restrictions on the issuance of state driver's licenses to immigrants and others.
