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1790
There was a law passed defining who could become a citizen if a person was not born here: citizenship was possible only for someone who was a free white person. After the civil war, this law was revised to allow people born in Africa to become citizens, but Asian immigrants were still excluded from citizenship. -
1880 and 1920
One of the heaviest periods of immigration came in American history came bewteen 1880-1920 when 25 million immigrants arrived. Most came from southern and eastern europe. -
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
San Franciscans and other Californians began to rally against the Chinese. In 1882 congress responded by passing this act. It said no chinese laborer could enter the US for 10 years. -
Quota Act of 1921
Congress sets up quotas favoring immigrants from northwest Europe. -
1965-Immigration Reform Act
In 1965 Congress passed the Immigration Reform Act, abolishing the quota system based on national origin. When president Lyndon Johnson signed this he refered to the old one as un-American. -
1986-Immigration Reform and Control Act
The Immigration Reform act penalizes employers for knowingly hiring undocumented immigrants, but it gives amnesty to some undocumented immigrants, allowing them a path to eventually apply for citizenship. -
Immigration Act of 1990
By 1990, more than 80 percent of American immigrants came from Asia and Latin America. Congress wanted to prevent any one country from making up most of the immigrants to the US. In order to do this it passed the Immigration Act of 1990, which said no country could account for more than 7 percent of total immigrants. This law also set up special categories for war refuges and considered a person's education skills. -
Immigration Reform Act of 1996
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2007
Late in George Bush's presidency, he committed himself to backing a bill to address all immigration issues. Bush's bill proposed to fill short labor needs through a guest worker program and strengthened border control. He thought it was realistic to not track down and deport millions of illegal immigrants. The senate voted it down.
