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1790
Congress passed a law defining who could become a citizen if a person was not born in the U.S. Citizenship was possible only for someone who was "a free white person". This barred any African or Asian immigrant from becoming a citizen. After the Civil War this law was revised to allow people born in Africa to become citizens, but Asian immigrants were still excluded. -
1880 and 1920
This period was one of the heaviest in immigration. This came between 1880-1920 when some 25 million immigrants arrived. most came from countries of Southern and Eastern Europe. People saw these new immigrants as very different from themselves. -
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
No Chinese laborer could enter the U.S for 10 years. Renewed several times, the act was in force until WWII. In the conflict, China was an American ally and Congress appealed the law. -
Quota Act of 1921
Congress est up quotas favoring immigrants from northwestern Europe. The Immigration Act of 1924 expands the quota system: immigration from any country is limited to 2 percent of its total numbers in the 1890 census. -
Immigration Act of 1924
This introduced a quote system by country: each country's immigrants were limited to 2 percent of foreign-born residents from the country listed in the U.S. Census of 1890. The formula favored groups that had been in the U.S. for a long time. -
1965- Immigration Reform Act
The next major policy shift was inspired largely by the civil rights movement and its ideal of equality and social justice. in 1965 Congress passed the Immigration Reform Act, abolishing the quote system based on national origin. The new law was driven by two principals: reunifying families and giving priority to certain skills. -
1986- Immigration Reform Act and Control Act
Reagan wanted to slow immigration by punishing employers who knowingly hired undocumented immigrants. He also wanted to offer a way for long-term, undocumented immigrants to become legal. if the could show they had entered the U.S before January 1982 and lived here continuously. -
Immigration Act of 1990
This Act was made to prevent any one country from making up most of the immigrants to the U.S. No country could account for more than 7 percent of total immigrants. The law also considered a person's education and skills. This law set up special categories for war refugees or close relatives of American citizens. -
Immigration Reform Act of 1996
This law increased the border patrol staff and stiffened penalties for creating false citizenship papers or smuggling undocumented workers. -
2007
President George W. Bush committed himself to backing up a bill to address all immigration issues.The bill purposed to fill short-term labor needs through a guest worker program and strengthen border control. It did not propose to track down and deport millions of undocumented workers who were already there. This bill also would have fined undocumented immigrants and required them to fulfill certain obligations before they could apply for citizenship.
