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Immigration restrictions in the US date back a long ways and the fears used to justify it also date back a long ways. It might better help us to understand the history of immigration restrictions in the US
I might just add that the Constitution never explicitly gave Congress the power to regulate immigration, just naturalization (how people become citizens).
Until the 1870s, there were no immigration restrictions (not that many people were looking to move there before the 1830s) but a few restrictions were placed on naturalization. The Naturalization Act of 1790 limited federal citizenship to white people who have resided in the country for two or more years. Some states did, however, naturalize free blacks at the state level. This act also excluded indentured servants, though it did grant natural citizenship to children of Americans abroad. In 1795, the two year requirement was extended to five years and in 1708 to 14 years.
As you may all know, the 14 amendment states that anyone born in the US automatically becomes a citizen. This was meant to grant all of the freed slaves citizenship but it also opened up the possibility for children born on US soil from immigrants to automatically become citizens, confirmed in 1898 by United States v Wong Kim Ark. In 1870, citizenship was granted to "aliens of African descent and African nativity" while simultaneously revoking citizenship from the Chinese. It also criminalized fraud in the naturalization process.
In 1875, the first immigration restriction was signed into law, putting an end to 92 years of open borders. This act was the Page Act and on paper, it banned forced labor and immigration for the purpose of prostitution. In practice, it prevented Chinese women from arriving. Chinese men would be barred from entry a decade later by the Chinese Exclusion Act. These two acts were done due to a rising sentiment against Asians, particularly Chinese. People feared that the Chinese would outbreed white people through polygamy. There was also the fact that the Chinese would work for lower wages than their white counterparts. In the late 19th century, regulation on immigration really began to ramp up. Ellis Island opened up in 1892 to deal with who to let in or not. There was also a massive growth in the immigration bureaucracy as that was required to enforce the Chinese Exclusion Act. The immigration Act of 1907 prohibited certain people from entering the US. These people included polygamists, professional beggars, those with a contagious disease, and the disabled. There was also the Immigration Act of 1917 which closed the borders to other Asian pacific countries as well as criminals, alcoholics, and anarchists.
It was also around this time that immigration began to increase and immigration patters were shifting. In the mid 19th century, most immigrants were either from Germany or Ireland and there were also a plenty from Great Britain. By the end of the 19th century, there was an increasing amount from Italy, Austro-Hungary, and Russia. A desire to restore previous immigration patterns led to the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 which restricted the number of immigrants per year to 3% of the number from that same country already residing in the United States. A decade ago, immigration had peaked at 14-15% of the US population. In the 1930s the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was created to enforce immigration laws.
(to be continued, the whole thing goes over the 5000 character limit)
I might just add that the Constitution never explicitly gave Congress the power to regulate immigration, just naturalization (how people become citizens).
Until the 1870s, there were no immigration restrictions (not that many people were looking to move there before the 1830s) but a few restrictions were placed on naturalization. The Naturalization Act of 1790 limited federal citizenship to white people who have resided in the country for two or more years. Some states did, however, naturalize free blacks at the state level. This act also excluded indentured servants, though it did grant natural citizenship to children of Americans abroad. In 1795, the two year requirement was extended to five years and in 1708 to 14 years.
As you may all know, the 14 amendment states that anyone born in the US automatically becomes a citizen. This was meant to grant all of the freed slaves citizenship but it also opened up the possibility for children born on US soil from immigrants to automatically become citizens, confirmed in 1898 by United States v Wong Kim Ark. In 1870, citizenship was granted to "aliens of African descent and African nativity" while simultaneously revoking citizenship from the Chinese. It also criminalized fraud in the naturalization process.
In 1875, the first immigration restriction was signed into law, putting an end to 92 years of open borders. This act was the Page Act and on paper, it banned forced labor and immigration for the purpose of prostitution. In practice, it prevented Chinese women from arriving. Chinese men would be barred from entry a decade later by the Chinese Exclusion Act. These two acts were done due to a rising sentiment against Asians, particularly Chinese. People feared that the Chinese would outbreed white people through polygamy. There was also the fact that the Chinese would work for lower wages than their white counterparts. In the late 19th century, regulation on immigration really began to ramp up. Ellis Island opened up in 1892 to deal with who to let in or not. There was also a massive growth in the immigration bureaucracy as that was required to enforce the Chinese Exclusion Act. The immigration Act of 1907 prohibited certain people from entering the US. These people included polygamists, professional beggars, those with a contagious disease, and the disabled. There was also the Immigration Act of 1917 which closed the borders to other Asian pacific countries as well as criminals, alcoholics, and anarchists.
It was also around this time that immigration began to increase and immigration patters were shifting. In the mid 19th century, most immigrants were either from Germany or Ireland and there were also a plenty from Great Britain. By the end of the 19th century, there was an increasing amount from Italy, Austro-Hungary, and Russia. A desire to restore previous immigration patterns led to the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 which restricted the number of immigrants per year to 3% of the number from that same country already residing in the United States. A decade ago, immigration had peaked at 14-15% of the US population. In the 1930s the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was created to enforce immigration laws.
(to be continued, the whole thing goes over the 5000 character limit)