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Nationality Act of 1790
The first statute to define citizenship by naturalization and provide processes for immigrants to become citizens of the United States. -
Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798
Deportation statutes were enacted by Congress to target persons who were deemed political risks to the US in relation to European conflicts. -
Ban on importation of "any negro" or "person of color"
As a result of the Haitian Revolution, Congress prohibited free blacks from entering the country in order to keep anti-slavery activists at bay. -
Indian Removal Act
This law authorized the confiscation of land from Native Americans and provided resources in part of their removal west of the Mississippi River. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
This treaty confirmed the United States' annexation of El Norte, a large area of northern Mexico, and granted citizenship to the surviving Mexicans who chose to remain. -
People v.s. Hall
The evidence of a Chinese man who observed a white man's murder was found to be inadmissible in this Supreme Court case, depriving Chinese, along with Native and African Americans, of the right to testify in court against whites. -
Dred Scott v.s. Sanford
The Supreme Court ruled that slaves and free African Americans were not citizens of the United States and did not have the rights and advantages that come with citizenship. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln issued an order to release slaves detained in Confederate prisons. -
The Burlingame Treaty and The 14th Amendment
This international agreement guaranteed both Chinese and American employees unrestricted movement, while the 14th amendment guaranteed African Americans equal treatment and citizenship in the United States. -
Naturalization Act
Naturalization rights formerly enjoyed by white immigrants were explicitly extended to "aliens of African nativity and individuals of African descent," limiting other nonwhite immigrant groups access to citizenship rights and safeguards. -
The Chinese Exclusion Act
The statute singled out Chinese immigrants as the first group to be singled out for legal admission restrictions and citizenship ineligibility based on race and class. -
Elk v.s. Wilkins
The Supreme Court concluded in this case that the Fourteenth Amendment did not apply to Native Americans who did not immediately receive citizenship via birth and hence might be denied the right to vote. -
The Dawes Allotment Act
The president was given authority by Congress to allocate – or divide into individual landholdings – tribal reserve lands. Native Americans who received allotments might become citizens of the United States, although they frequently lost their land. -
Scott Act
Returning laborers were one of the exempt statuses that was repealed, leaving around 20,000 Chinese with Certificates of Return stranded outside the United States. -
Immigration Bureau
The difficulties of implementing immigration limitations were rapidly recognized by Congress, prompting it to create and establish a dedicated immigration office responsible for both processing legal immigrants and enforcing immigration restrictions. -
Geary Act
Chinese exclusion restrictions were updated and enforcement mechanisms were enhanced by requiring Chinese to establish their legitimate status in the US by carrying a Certificate of Residence, a predecessor to the green card system, or face arrest and deportation. -
Plessy v.s. Ferguson
This Supreme Court decision legitimized racial segregation by declaring that the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection standards could be met with "separate but equal" facilities. -
The United States v.s. Wong Kim Ark
This Supreme Court decision established the rule that everybody born in the United States is a citizen by birth, regardless of color or parental status. -
Anti-American Boycott
To protest the Chinese Exclusion rules, an international coalition of Chinese merchants and students organized boycotts of American goods and services in China and certain Southeast Asian cities. -
The Palmer Raids
The US Department of Justice undertook a series of raids to apprehend suspected anarchists and left-wing radicals and deport them. -
Ozawa v.s The United States
This Supreme Court decision confirmed that Asians, regardless of their shown acculturation and integration, are ineligible for naturalization because they are racially not "white." -
Indian Citizenship Act
By virtue of this rule, all Native Americans born in the United States were automatically citizens. Native Americans were the final major group to benefit from the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection under the law. -
Mexican Repatriation
Several efforts were conducted by the Border Patrol to apprehend Mexicans, including some who were born in the United States, and expel them across the border. -
Ex Parte Endo
The Supreme Court declared that "concededly loyal" U.S. citizens could not be detained, regardless of the basis of "military necessity." -
The McCarren-Walter Act
Changed some of immigration law's most blatantly discriminatory sections While the bill established quotas for all countries and removed racial barriers to citizenship, it also increased immigration enforcement and kept insulting national origins quotas. -
Act of September 26, 1961
By classifying overseas adoption as a form of family reunion, this law allowed further exceptions to immigration restrictions imposed by national quotas. -
Hart-Cellar Act
This law established the fundamental concepts of immigration control that are still in effect today. It used a preferential system for family reunification (75%), work (20%), and refugees (5%), and it capped immigration from inside the Americas for the first time. -
Cuban Adjustment Act
Anti-communist Cubans were given favorable immigration treatment after Fidel Castro's revolution since they hailed from a historically close US ally and neighbor. This statute gave them permanent residency and services to help them transition to life in the United States. -
Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments
The 1976 Amendments expanded to the Western Hemisphere a 20,000-person per-country ceiling and a modified arrivals preference scheme. The law was changed again in 1978, establishing a single global yearly ceiling of 290,000. -
Immigration Reform and Control Act
Through bipartisan consensus, Congress developed a multi-pronged system that included amnesty for long-term residents, greater border enforcement, increased employer restrictions, and expanded guest worker visa programs. -
The Flores Settlement
Concerned how unaccompanied youngsters are treated in immigration custody. The settlement, which is presently being appealed, established federal guidelines for the treatment and discharge of detained minors. -
Zadvydas v.s. Davis
The Supreme Court concluded that immigration officials cannot keep individuals who have been ordered deported but for whom no destination can be found indefinitely. -
Homeland Security Act
By combining 22 different organizations and bureaucracies, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was formed. The foundation of the Department of Homeland Security mirrored growing concerns about immigration in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks.