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Congress creates uniform rules for citizenship/
Congress creates uniform rules allowing any white male could apply for citizenship after two years of residency. -
Irish emigrate to the United States as a result of potato famine.
The influx of Irish immigrants creates tenisions and new issues to be addressed. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott decision declared free Africans non-citizens. -
Passage of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution
African Americans gained citizenship when the 14th Amendment was passed. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
First federal immigration law suspended Chinese immigration for 10 years and barred Chinese in U.S. from citizenship. Also barred convicts, lunatics, and others unable to care for themselves from entering. Head tax placed on immigrants. -
Emergency Quota Act
This act temporarily restricted immigration into the United States. Established numerical limits on immigrants from Europe and established a quota system. -
Displaced Persons Act
This act allowed 205,000 refugees over two years; gave priority to Baltic States refugees; admitted as quota immigrants. Technical provisions discriminated against Catholics and Jews; those were dropped in 1953, and 205,000 refugees were accepted as non-quota immigrants. -
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
This act abolished national origins quotas, establishing separate ceilings for the eastern (170,000) and western (120,000) hemispheres. Categories of preference based on family ties, critical skills, artistic excellence, and refugee status. -
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
The act:
required employers to attest to their employees' immigration status; made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit illegal immigrants; legalized certain seasonal agricultural illegal immigrants, and; legalized illegal immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982 and had resided there continuously with the penalty of a fine, back taxes due, and admission of guilt; candidates were required to prove that they were not guilty of crimes, that they were in -
Immigration Act of 1990
This act limited unskilled workers to 10,000/year; skilled labor requirements and immediate family reunification major goals. Continued to promote nuclear family model. -
DREAM Act Proposed
The bill would have granted permanent residency to immigrants of good moral character who were brought to the US as minors, graduated high school, and who lived in the country for five years prior to the bill's enactment. The bill was blocked by Republicans in Congress and was not passed. -
Patriort Act
It amended the Immigration and Nationality Act to broaden the scope of aliens ineligible for admission or deportable due to terrorist activities to include an alien who: (1) is a representative of a political, social, or similar group whose political endorsement of terrorist acts undermines U.S. antiterrorist efforts; (2) has used a position of prominence to endorse terrorist activity, or to persuade others to support such activity in a way that undermines U.S. antiterrorist efforts (or the chil -
The "Minutemen" Begin Recruiting
The "Minutemen" are a group of civilians who have armed themselves with the goal of patrolling the border and stopping illegal immigrants from crossing the border. -
Arizona SB 1070
When it was passed it was the broadest and strictest anti-illegal immigration measure in recent U.S. history. It made it a state misdemeanor crime for an alien to be in Arizona without carrying the required documents, required that state law enforcement officers attempt to determine an individual's immigration status during a "lawful stop, detention or arrest", or during a "lawful contact" not specific to any activity when there is reasonable suspicion that the individual is an illegal immigran -
Utah Compact
This compact was passed in the state of Utah as a reaction against Arizona's SB 1070. It was notably supported by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who has continued to lobby for immigration reform based on similar principles. The principles are:- Federal Solutions. Immigration, including border policy is a federal issue.
- Law Enforcement. Law Enforcement should have discretion. Local law enforcement should focus on criminal activity rather than violations of federal civ
