Change in Immigration Policies Draft
Migrations into the United States have been a part of the history of the country for a long time. There have been many laws that would restrict the access of immigrants coming to the United States; however, the immigrant’s desire to start a new life does not let the new laws stop them. These policies would change numerous times and adapt to new forms of immigration from different countries. These changes occurred throughout the late 1800’s, through the 1900’s and into the 2000’s and many people in the United States have had mixed feelings towards it. Although the country had not focused on immigration as heavily as it does now, in 1875 the Supreme Court declared immigration as a federal issue. From there on was start of numerous policies that would reduce the amount of people that were allowed into the United States.
Immigration policies have drastically changed throughout history due to the excessive influx of immigrants from many countries. The history of these laws started in the 18th century with the enactment of the Naturalization Act of 1790. According to Edward J. W. Park, “the first U.S. Naturalization Act is enacted, stipulating that only “free white persons” can gain American citizenship” (Park). This was the first law of its kind that allowed people in the United States to gain citizenship. However, it discriminated other ethnicities in that it only allowed free white men to gain citizenship. Other countries, however, would not be able to gain this privilege. The Naturalization Act of 1795 would soon supersede this law 5 years later. Which showed how short-lived these laws would be. This new naturalization law was due to the excessive amount of immigrants gaining citizenship through this law. It was increasing at an uncontrollable rate, that they modified the 1790 law so that new restrictions were applied. These restrictions included but were not limited to a mandatory 5-year stay inside the United States apart from the previous 2-year rule, as well as have a good moral character apart from the previous good character rule. More rules were implemented however; the free white men policy was still enforced for citizenship. (Library of Congress).
Immigration policies would soon start to progress onto other ethnicities and allow more diverse communities to gain citizenship in the United States. Although this didn’t directly affect new immigrants coming into the country, it did allow residents that were “born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside” (Legal Information Institute). This was the implementation of the 14th Amendment in 1868 after several decades of only “free white men” it eventually allowed African Americans, who were slaves, to be able to become citizens of the United States. This idea of diversity allowed the government to be more flexible with who was able to become a citizen legally.
As the government allowed less restriction to be placed for individuals wanting to become citizens, or wanting to come to the country, millions of people started coming to the United States in search of a new life. The government in response to this acted quickly especially due to many states passing different immigration laws after the Civil War. The Supreme Court of the United States decided that regulations of immigration policies were now a federal responsibility. It would now take complete control of this new influx of immigrants. Another main reason of this declaration by the Supreme Court was that many cities worsened economically, forcing the federal government to take control. (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services). The first few policies enacted was to directly prevent Chinese people from immigrating to the United States. In 1882, two major policies were passed to limit the amount of people that were able to come to the United States. The first policy was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which “was the first time in US American history that a policy was adopted to exclude immigrants based on their race and nationality. Initially, the Act barred Chinese laborers, skilled or unskilled, from entering the USA for 10 years, with the exception of merchants, students, teachers, and travelers.” (Kil). This was a major step into new immigration policies, as previous policies never directly attacked one single nationality. Moreover, this policy would continue for decades as the government restricted immigrants from China. The Chinese Exclusion Act was also implemented in a way to prevent unwanted people from coming to the country. However, this solely prevents one nationality from entering and was unfair for them.
The effects of this on the Chinese were tremendous as it negatively affected their lifestyles for the ones that were already in the United States. According to SangHea Kil, “The Chinese who had already immigrated were required to register with authorities and carry identification at all times. Congress then extended the Act in 1904 indefinitely.” (Kil). The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 applied excessive pressure on those who were already residing in the United States. Unlike others they had certain rules put upon them even though they were in the country prior to the creation of the law. The act scaled on for several decades towards Chinese individuals until it was finally repealed in 1943. However, the only reason it was repealed by Congress was due to the fact that China became an ally to the United States when they entered World War II. (Kil). If this were not the case, it would have been very likely that the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act would have occurred years later. Since it started in 1882 and lasted until 1943, the act would not have been taken down due to the excessive immigration that was still occurring in the United States at the time. The other major policy that was implemented in 1882, was the Immigration Act of 1882 that according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) “levied a head tax of fifty cents on each immigrant and blocked (or excluded) the entry of idiots, lunatics, convicts, and persons likely to become a public charge.” (USCIS). The Immigration Act of 1882 was also a way for the federal government to gain a source of income from these individuals coming to the country, as well as finding a new way to protect the citizens of America. The prevention of lunatics, convicts and “idiots” were a tremendous step in protecting public safety since before they allowed anyone in. Although the policy prevented further immigration, it did justify itself in protecting society from unwanted people. This policy was enacted just six months after the Chinese Exclusion Act so both policies limited the amount of immigrants that were allowed into the country. The Immigration Act of 1882 would also lead to more policies that would expand on these specific ideas of banishment. So in a way, it was beneficial for the United States to implement the Immigration Act since it led to the new Immigration Act of 1891. These expanded ideas included “polygamists, individuals convicted of crimes of moral depravity, and those with contagious diseases that posed a threat” (Ballotpedia). Such as before, the government found a new way to implement more safety with these new immigration laws. It was able to protect public health as well as only allowing individuals with a good moral character. With this new policy, it seemed to have only affected the ones that pose a threat to the nation, rather than just wanting to come to the United States. Additionally, according to Ballotpedia, “The law also created the first federal agency dedicated to enforcing immigration law, the Office of the Superintendent of Immigration within the Treasury Department.” (Ballotpedia). The federal government noticed that with more immigration policies being implemented as well as new immigrants coming in, they had to find new ways to enforce the rules made. Since at this time two new policies were made almost simultaneously, they had to prevent Chinese people, lunatics, criminals, polygamists and much more.
The next major immigration policy made in the United States was the 1924 National Origins Quota Act. The policy, according to the Government Publishing Office, “restricted [immigrants] by assigning each nationality a quota based on its representation in past U.S. [1890] census figures.” (GPO). It only allowed visas up to 2% of the total amount of people of each nationality according to the 1890 census. This was the first time the United States allowed a certain amount of visas to be allowed to different nationalities. Since visas were primarily used for this new law, only immigrants with granted visas were allowed into the United States. With the visa, however, immigrants were allowed to permanently move to the United States instead of just staying for a temporary time as it is now. Additionally, immigrants that just wanted to come to the country for a short time or temporary stay were allowed to apply for a nonimmigrant visa.
The National Quota Act also began to focus primarily on families of immigrants and citizens in the United States. Since the 1924 National Quota Act was a refurbishment of the 1921 Quota Act, it prioritized individuals who have family that were citizens in America. By having family here, they were either exempted from the 2% system or were granted preference in the visa selection process. (GPO). The federal government was now focusing on keeping families together and allowing them to be able to experience life in America with their family. This quota system would also soon come to an end with the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 that eliminated it.
The 1965 Act did eliminate the 2% limitation of visas on nationalities; however, it established a worldwide limit on immigration. The limit, which has still been imposed as of 2016 according to the American Immigration Council allowed 675,000 permanent immigrants. Moreover, this new policy also enacted certain criteria for the amount of visas issued to individuals. Since it kept the basis of keeping family together, it allowed immigrants who have family that are citizens, to be prioritized in the selection process. The next group to be prioritized was the ones that had family in the United States that were legal residents. (Ballotpedia). The government did their best to have families together even though they tried to minimize the amount of immigrants coming to the United States. Although it was unfair for the immigrants that had no family or relative in the country, it did allow immigrants to continue to stick together and not be separated. The government also went along the lines to also allow skilled laborers to come to the United States as well as educated individuals (Ballotpedia). To be able to migrate to the United States, you were expected to stand out within your community and have the determination to come. These restrictions made it harder for immigrants to get visas, however it was an acceptable way to allow only the best to come. The immigrants that had family in the United States had an easier way to get visas, which would be more problematic since they were not severely checked for being professional and educated as the other immigrants.
The next major immigration policy came with the presidency of Barack Obama and his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2012 with an executive order. According to the Center for Immigration Studied, DACA “resulted in renewable two-year grants of protection from deportation—plus work permits and identity documents—for approximately 700,000 illegal aliens who arrived in the country as children.” (CIS). Barack Obama tried to implement many immigration policies that would help immigrants inside the United States as well as parents who had children that were U.S. citizens. However, he received tremendous backlash from several states and congressman who were opposed to immigration. Barack Obama tried to implement these laws with executive power, however was unsuccessful with so much criticism towards him. Obama’s idea for Deferred Action for Parents of Americans was also heavily criticized and ignored. (CIS). These policies would eventually come to an end with the election of Donald Trump and his campaign pledge of ending immigration by putting a border between the United States and Mexico. He also was able to gain a lot of favoritism with his campaign promise and was able to unexpectedly win the election. With the termination of recent immigration policies, it can be shown how many changes the United States has gone through in order to get to where it is now. Much of the policies that were made centuries ago, were superseded by new policies years or decades after. No immigration policy has been kept the same since the creation of the first immigration policy.