Immigration Legislation

Acts and Laws

1790 Naturalization Law

Set residence requirements at two years uniformly across all states.

1795 – moved it from 2 years to 5 years

1819 1st significant legislation

States must report to Fed Gov’t all immigration

1864 Secretary of State takes control

Fed gov’t legalizes importation of contracted labor

1875 1st Restrictive Legislation

Prohibits entry of prostitutes, and criminals

1882 Exclusions extended

Prohibited “lunatics, imbeciles, and persons suffering from loathsome and contagious diseases.”

1882 Chinese Exclusion Act

10 yr ban on all Chinese workers going into Calif. Renewed in 1892, 1902 (indefinitely)

1885 Labor Law changed

Contracted laborers were now banned• If you had a job coming in, you were taking

one away from a citizen.

1888 Expulsions of Aliens

Provisions were adopted to provide for the expulsion of aliens. 1st process to kick people out.

1888 Scott Act

Prohibited Chinese from returning to Calif after a visit to China unless they had • $1000 of Land (it was illegal for non-citizens

to own land)

• Had relatives here in California

1903 – Consolidation of Immigration Laws

Polygamists (multi wife's) and political radicals were added to the exclusion list

1906 Procedural safeguards

Knowledge of English was made a basic requirement

More restrictions - 1906

People with physical or mental defects, or tuberculosis, and children unaccompanied by parents. All were added to the exclusion list

1917 Added to the list

Illiterates, alcoholics, stowaways, and vagrants

1917 Literacy Act

Vetoes by the president in 1896, 1913, and 1915.

Immigrants must be literate in English, and pass a basic test to enter

1921 Quota Act

Annual quotas on the number of people admitted from a particular country• Denied women the right to share their husband’s

citizenship

• After World War I a marked increase in racism and the growth of isolationist sentiment in the U.S. led to demands for further restrictive legislation. In 1921 a congressional enactment provided for a quota system for immigrants, whereby the number of aliens of any nationality admitted to the U.S. in a year could not exceed 3 percent of the number of foreign-born residents of that nationality living in the U.S. in 1910.

1924 Johnson Red Act (National Origins Act)

1st immigration law that establishes a preference quota system, and border control system• Limitation of certain national groups. 2%

quota based on 1890 census – further restricts immigration from Europe (WWII)

1929 - Quotas of 1924 made permanent

1st immigration law that establishes a preference quota system, and border control system• Limitation of certain national groups. 2%

quota based on 1890 census – further restricts immigration from Europe (WWII)

1943 Bracero Program

Importation of migrant farm workers to help in the cultivation of crops in Calif

1943 Chinese Exclusion Act repealed

Needed China on our side during WWII Limited number to 105 per year

1946 – Soldiers wives, children

Procedures to facilitate immigration of wartime romance/children

1948 – fleeing persecution

1st policy developed to assist those fleeing persecution. Granted Asylum.

1951 – OZ effect

Labor increases from 41 million in 1920 to 66 million in 1951.• Migration from farm to city (oz effect)

• Immigration from non-quota countries in Western Hemisphere –Puerto Rico, West Indies, etc

• Bracero program

1952 – hemisphere limitations

Western Hemisphere unrestricted, Eastern Hemisphere - reaffirms quota system.

Created a preference for skilled workers and relatives of citizens

1952 McCarren Walter Act Makes quota system more ridged, but allows all races the basic immigration quotas were changed; the new law

provided for annual immigration quotas for all countries from which aliens might be admitted. Quotas were based on the presumed desirability of various nationalities; aliens from northern and Western Europe were considered more desirable than those from southern and Eastern Europe. Aliens who fulfilled lawful residence requirements were exempt from quotas, as were alien wives, children, and some husbands of U.S. citizens.

1965 – National quota system abolished

Keeps policy by limiting 170,000 hemispheric and 20,000 per country ceilings to Eastern Hemispheric countries, favoring those who had relatives, special skills, etc

120,000 ceiling on Western Hemisphere, but no preference

1976 reformed quota

20,000 per country applied to Western Hemispheric nations.

1986 – IRCA (Immigration Reform & Control Act)

Legalized aliens who had resided in the US in an unlawful status since 1982.

Sanctions prohibiting employees from hiring, recruiting, or assisting in the importation of illegal aliens.

Creates new classification of temporary migrant worker

1995 - Prop 187

Restricted medical care, schooling and immunization to legal residents of Calif.

Required county workers (teachers, hospital workers, etc) to turn-in/report suspected illegals.

2000 - Prop 227

English Only legislation 1 Year before English immersion