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Page Act of 1875
The first federal immigration law passed, banning any "undesirables": a person from Asia who was coming to America to be a forced laborer, or a woman from Asia who would engage in prostitution. Also all people considered to be convicts in their own country. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
It was the first significant law restricting immigration into the United States, it provided an absolute 10-year moratorium on Chinese labor immigration. -
Contract Labor Law
An act to prohibit the importation and migration of foreigners and aliens under contract or agreement to perform labor in the United States, its territories, and the District of Columbia.It also forbade American individuals or organizations from engaging in labor contracts with individuals prior to their immigration to the United States, and forbade ship captains from transporting immigrants under labor contracts. -
Gentleman's Agreement
An unwritten agreement between The United States and Japan, were the U.S agreed to only allow immigration for the wives, children and parents of current Japanese whom already reside in the United States, and Japan agreed to no longer issue passports to Japense immigrants. -
Asiatic Barred Zone Act
A law that restricted the immigration of 'undesirables' from other countries, including "imbeciles, epileptics, alcoholics, poor, criminals, beggars, any person suffering insanity, those who have any form of dangerous contagious disease, those who have a physical disability that will restrict them from earning a living in the United States, polygamists and anarchists, those against the organized government , and prostitutes. It also required any immigrants from the age 16 and up to pay a $8 fee. -
Literacy Tests
Americans believed that allowing non-English speaking immigrants into The United States threatened assimilation, so the literacy tests denied admission to any immigrant who could not pass a basic reading/writing test. -
Emergancy Quota Act
The Emergency Quota act limited the number of immigrants allowed into the US to 350,000 per year. -
Magnuson Act
This act repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1880, and applied a quota for Chinese immigrants. -
War Brides Act
This Act allowed the non-Asian spouses, natural children, and adopted children of United States military personnel to enter the U.S.. -
Immigration and Nationality Act
This act permited 170,00 immigrants from the Eastern Hemisphere, and 120,000 immigrants from the Western Hemisphere, without any county exceding the limit of 20,000 immigrants. -
Worldwide Immigration Ceiling
This act enhaned the previous Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, by allowing 290,000 immigrants from anywhere, intead of the previous limit depending on Hemispheres. -
Worldwide Immigration Ceiling
This act reduces the 1978 Immigration Ceiling from 290,000 immigrants to 270,000 immigrants. -
Immigration Reform and Control Act
This act required employers to attest to their employees' immigration status,made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit unauthorized immigrants, and legalized illegal immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982. -
Immigration Act of 1990
This act made it so that immigrants were no longer denied entery into the United States based on beliefs, statements, or associations. -
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibiliy Act
This act states that illegal immigrants in the United States for 180 days but less than 365 days must remain outside the United States for 3 years. If they are in the United States for 365 days or more, they must stay outside the United States for 10years.Both may be excused with pardons. If they return to the United States without the pardon, they may not apply for a waiver for a period of ten years. -
Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act
This act makes undocumented immigrantion in the United States a felony. Also, any person helping those undocumented immigrants is a felony. The bill also calls for the creation of a fence along 700 miles of the United States and Mexico border.