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Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 Stopped entry of Chinese immigrants to the US for 10 years. First act to establish the federal government's right to restrict immigration based on nationalities. -
1888 Immigration
More restrictive acts were passed, they allowed national gov't not only to exclude certain individuals-convicts, prostitutes, and insane persons-by also to deport aliens who entered the country in violation of these immigration laws -
Quota Act of 1921
Concept of limiting the rights of certain nationalities to immigrate. This act limited the annual number of immigrants from each nationality to 3 percent of the number of foreign-born persons of that nationality who were living in the US in 1910. Most asian groups were not included in the list of nationalities, so they could not legally immigrate to the US for some time. -
Immigration Act of 1924 and National Origins Act of 1929
Established a new quota system for each nationality and set a limit on the total number of immigrants to be allowed entry at all. This quota system serves as the basis for US immigration policy for more than 35 yrs. -
Welfare Reform Act of 1990
Prohibited immigrants, including legal immigrants who are not yet citizens, from receiving most forms of public assistance, including welfare benefits. Many Americans thought this new policy toward immigrants was too harsh, so Congress revised it's policy in 1997, which allowed many new refugees to automatically become eligible for permanent legal residence. other illegal immigrants were allowed to remain in the US while the government processed their applications for permanent legal residence.
