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1790
A law was passed defining who could become a citizen if a person was not born here. Citizenship was possible for: free white people. -
1880- 1920
One of the heaviest periods of Imigration in American history. Around 25 million immigrants had arrived. Most were from the Southern and Eastern parts of europe, they were veiwed differently from regular americans. -
Chinese Exclusion act of 1882
The Chinese made up half of the work force in San Fransico. So, in 1882 Congress had passed the Chinese Exclusion act. Is stated that no Chinese laborer could enter the United States for 10 years. This law did not apply for Chinese proffesionals. The law had been renewed many times untill World War II, then it was repealed because China was an American ally. -
Quota Act of 1921
Congress set up quotas favoring immigrants from northwestern Europe. -
Immigration Act of 1924
This Act expands the quota system: immigration from any country is limited to 2% of its total numbers in the 1890 cenus. Thus, immigration dropped severly throuought the next 40 years. -
Immigration Reform Act
This Act throws out the national origins system ( abolishes the Quota Act); now preference is given first to reunifying families and second to people whose skills help the United States. It also set up annual limits: 170,000 immigrants from the Eastern Hemisphere and 120,000 from the Western Hemisphere. -
Immigration Reform and Control Act
This Act penalizes employers for knowingly hiring undocumemnted worker, but it gives amnesty to some undocumented immigrants, allowing them a path to eventually apply for citizenship. -
Immigration Act of 1990
Congress wanted to prevent any one country from making up most of the immigrants to the United States . So, this Act was passed and it said that no country could account for more than 7% of total immigrants . It also considered the persons skills and education. This law also set up special catagories for war refugees or close relatives of American Citizens. -
Immigration Reform Act of 1996
This act increased the boarder patrol staff and stiffened penalties for creating false citizenship papers or smuggling undocumented workers. -
Bush's Bill 2007
Bush backed a bill that had proposed to fill short-term labor needs through a guest worker program and strengthened border control. It did not propose to track down undocumented workers who were already here. The bill would have fined undocumented immigrants and required them to fufill certain obligations before they could apply for citizenship. The Senate voted the bill down.
