-
Elections of 1854
During the congress elections of 1854, many people from the Knownothing party were elected. They supported the idea of restricting immigration. -
Homestead Act of 1862
The Homestead Act provided (cheap) places of residence for the poor and the immigrants. This brought a whole new wave of immigrants to the U.S. -
Transcontinental Railroad
First opened to traffic for immigrants. Mainly built by the chinese and irish immigrants -
Immigration Exclusion Act
The 1882 Act to Regulate Immigration prohibited entry to ‘any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge’. The law was designed to exclude immigrants whose undesirable conditions might prove costly to society – including convicted criminals, the poor, and the mentally ill." -
Anarchist Exclusion Act 1903
The Immigration Act of 1903 expanded the federal government’s power to regulate immigration. In this piece of legislation, Congress codified immigration law and refined the existing classes of inadmissible immigrants. Of even greater significance to the history of immigration was the act’s creation of two new inadmissible classes: The first covered immigrants involved in prostitution, and the second dealt with anarchists. -
Exatriation Act
American women that married immigrants lost their citizenship. This helped prevent immigrants from becoming citizens. -
Emergency Quota Act
The Act restricted the number of immigrants admitted from any country annually to 3% of the number of residents from that same country living in the United States as of the U.S. Census of 1910. The use of such a National Origins Formula continued until 1965. -
Mexicans Fled to home country
During the great depression Mexicans with and without documents to stay in the US were sent back because of the great depression. Many others voluntarily left in fear. -
Alien Registration Act
This act made it illegal for anyone in the United States to advocate, abet, or teach the desirability of overthrowing the government. The law also required all alien residents in the United States over 14 years of age to file a comprehensive statement of their personal and occupational status and a record of their political beliefs. -
Immigration and Nationality Act
This act added restrictions on Mexican immigration. -
Immigration and Reform Control Act
This act made it illegal to hire immigrants. Employers have to fill out an I-9 form. -
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act
The Act was designed to improve border control by imposing criminal penalties for racketeering, alien smuggling and the use or creation of fraudulent immigration-related documents and increasing interior enforcement by agencies charged with monitoring visa applications and visa abusers. -
U.S.A Patriot Act
Act was passed due to September 11 attacks. A department of Homeland Security was created and border control was increased. It also became a rquirement that one's passport is machine readable. -
Secure Fence Act
This Act authorizes fences to be contructed over hundreds of miles. This allows the Secretary of Homeland security to stop unlawful entry to the United States -
Arizona immigration Law
This law was the first to mandate officers to run checks on immigration status of individuals whenever "reasonable suspicion exists" that the person is unlawfully in the country.
