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Immigration Legislation APUSH

Terms in this set (17)

Alien & Sedition Act (1798)
authorized the expulsion of foreigners considered a threat to the US, also extended residence requirements for naturalization from 5 to 14 years
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
suspended immigration of all Chinese laborers for 10 years and forbade the naturalization of Chinese, a new law in 1902 excluded Chinese indefinitely, the ban was lifted in 1943
Federal Immigration Law (1882)
forbade the immigration of criminals, paupers, and the insane, required an immigrant to prove to officials that he/she would not become a 'public charge', those who could not support themselves (children/the elderly) had to produce a statement by a friend or relative promising support
Contract Labor Law (1885)
prohibited the importation of workmen under contract from overseas (usually for substandard wages), in later years, the lists of undesirables was lengthened
Gentleman's Agreement (1908)
agreement made by President Teddy Roosevelt and Japan, agreed to deny passports to laborers wishing to come to the US, in return, Californians were expected to repeal their offensive school ordinances segregating Japanese students
Immigration Act of 1917
required a literacy test for new immigrants entering the US and barred immigration from most of the Asian-Pacific area, this law was passed over Wilson's veto
Immigration Act of 1921
Emergency Quota Act, limited the number of immigrants entering the US, allow 3% of the size of each nationality living in the US in the year 1910, this system drastically limited the immigration from southern/eastern Europe
Immigration Act of 1924
created a permanent quota system, chopped the 1921 annual quota from 358,000 to 164,000, reduced the immigration limit from 3% to 2% of each foreign born nationality living in the US in 1890, provided for a future reduction of the quota to 154,000
National Origins Act (1929)
used 1920 as the quota base, virtually cut immigration in half by limiting the total to 152,574 people per year
Displaced Persons Act (1948)
made it possible for some 400,000 WWII refugees to come to the US
Immigration & Nationality Act of 1952
McCarran-Walter Act, did little more than restate old national origins quota system, codified and slightly amended existing immigration laws, permitted the naturalization of Asians, act also gave the Attorney General authority to expel aliens considered 'subversive' regardless of citizenship, this act became law over Truman's veto
Refugee Relief Act (1953)
act which rescued some 214,000 people who had fled from Communist countries in Eastern Europe
Cuban Refugee Program (1961)
established by President Kennedy, paved the way for thousands of Cuban refugees form Communist China to find asylum in the US
Immigration & Nationality Act of 1965
ordered elimination of the national origins quota act, a ceiling of 170,000 people from outside the western hemisphere and 120,000 nations in the western hemisphere, no more than 20,000 visas per year, established an admissions system with 4 ranks of preference: A. persons whose special skills should be 'especially advantageous to the US', B. unmarried children over 21 of US citizens, C. spouses and unmarried children of aliens living permanently, D. other relatives of persons living in the US & workers with 'lesser skills' who could fill special labor needs, an immigrant without relatives in the US still had to prove that he would take a job that in no way took jobs away from US workers
Refugee Act of 1980
defined refugees as people outside their native countries who are unwilling to return because of fear of persecution, increased the number of refugees to be admitted, empowered the President to admit additional refugees in emergency situations, established the position of US Coordinator of Refugee Affairs to administer the law
Immigration Reform & Control Act of 1986
barred employers from hiring illegal immigrants, made it illegal for an employer to discriminate against legal immigrants, offered legal status, or amnesty, to immigrants who could prove they entered the US illegally before January 1st, 1982, offered amnesty to illegal immigrants who had worked in the US for at least 90 days between May 1985 & 1986, opened the way for people who benefited from the amnesties to become US citizens, provided for the admission of up to 350,000 immigrants for seasonal farm work between 1990 & 1993, set aside $1 billion a year for four years to help state governments provide public help and education to people who benefited from these amnesties
Immigration Act of 1990
raised maximum of legal immigrants, the number of visas offered to immigrants with special skills was doubled, the number of visas for low skilled workers was reduced, 10,000 visas a year would be made available to immigrants who have large sums of $ to invest in new businesses/provide more jobs for Americans, 40,000 'diversity visas' would be set aside for people from 35 countries seen adversely affect by the 1965 law, 55,000 family members of those who gained legal status under the 1986 amnesty may be admitted, the bill eased restrictions dating to the 1950s that barred entry to people such as Communists, homosexuals, and people with serious diseases, people from war-torn El Salvador who were in the US before the law was passed could receive work permits and temporary 'safe haven' status for 18 months, bill allowed Filipino WWII military veterans to become US citizens
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