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Gadsden Purchase Claims Arizona from Mexico
Gadsden Purhcase
The Gadsden Purchase was an agreement between the United States and Mexico that said the United States agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico. It began in 1853 and was finalized in 1854.This land from the purchase by James Gadsden is now a part of Arizona and New Mexico. -
14th Amendment of the US Constitution
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment was passed in 1868, stating that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States” are to be granted citizenship. This amendment helped move towards civil rights in America. -
Mounted Inspectors
Mounted Inspectors
Mounted Inspectors were stationed in El Paso, Texas and patrolled all the way to California to keep immigrants from crossing the border into America. They were a small group of elite forces that rode by horseback, -
Immigration Act of 1917
Immigration Act 1917
This Immigration Act passed by Congress in 1917 was to monitor alien immigration. Some stipulations included an $8 tax on anyone over the age of 16 and the passing of a literacy test -
Emergency Quota Act, 1924
Emergency Quota Act 1921
This act "established the first ethnic quota system for selective admittance of immigrants to the United States." The creation of this act was in hopes of supporting the Immigration Act of 1917 since so many immigrants were still entering America -
The Beginning of the Border Patrol
Congress made the US Border Patrol an official part of the Immigration Bureau, a section of the Department of Labor. By 1925, Border Patrol was covering over 2,000 miles of seacoast along the coasts of the Gulf and Floridas. -
Bracero Program
Bracero Program
The Bracero Program was created to allow Mexicans temporary access to low-wage agricultural jobs in America. There were five rules to this program; it was the informal name given to the Emergency Farm Labor Program initiated in 1942. -
Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1965
Immigration and Nationality Act, 1965
This act abolished the national origins quota system that had structured American immigration policy since the 1920s. It also created a preference system that focused on immigrants' skills and family relationships with citizens or residents of the U.S. -
Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986
Immigration Reform and Control Act, 1986
This act served to amend, revise, and reform/re-assess the status of unauthorized immigrants as written in the Immigration and Nationality Act. It is a lengthy and overwhelming to read because of topics like control of unauthorized immigration, legalization, and reform of legal immigration. -
Illegal Alien vs Illegal Immigration
Illegal Immigration
When the term "illegal alien" was switched to the idea of "illegal immigration," there were anti immigration groups and the new phrase was a "major policy concern." -
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
North American Free Trade Agreement
NAFTA was set in place to reduce the tariffs on trade between the three countries in North America: Canada, the United States, and Mexico. It would ensure investors equal business rights in all three countries. Still, this agreement did little to deal with illegal immigration. -
Proposition 187
Proposition 187
This proposition that passed in California was meant to deny education, welfare benefits, and nonemergency health care to illegal immigrants. -
Temporary Worker Program
Temporary Worker Program
President George W. Bush proposed this program to “match willing foreign workers with willing American employers, when no Americans can be found to fill the jobs.” The program even agreed to grant legal status to these workers even if they were undocumented, but under certain circumstances -
Minuteman Project in Arizona
Minuteman Project
Started by Jim Gilchrist and Chris Simcox. These two men are leaders of mulitple vigilante groups that all share the goal in helping with volunteer "border patrols." They want to keep illegal immigrants out by patrolling the border between Arizona and Mexico -
SB1070 Bill Passes in Arizona
SB1070 Text
Police are required to make the decision of someon'es immigration status when they are arrested or detained when there is “reasonable suspicion” they are not in the U.S. legally.
