20th Century Immigration

Americans turned toward domestic isolation and social conservatism in the 1920s because of the red scare. Many people used the red scare to break the backs of all struggling unions. Isolationist Americans had did not have a lot of hope in the 1920s. There began to be a large amount of immigrants flowing into the US. During 1920-1921, over 800,000 immigrants had come. This type of immigration was known as the "New Immigration". The Emergency Quota act of 1921 and the Immigration Act of 1924 severely limited immigration and was taken from the census of 1890 rather than 1910, because 1890 was a huge immigration

At first the government supported open immigration in the open and settled land, but after the Civil War while, states began to pass their own immigration regulations and immigrating become more difficult. The Supreme Court decided immigration would be under federal jurisdiction in 1875, and Congress created the Department of Immigration in 1891. Since 1900 to 1921, Congress created the "quota system," which gave authorization for a specified number of individuals of all ethnic groups in immigration like most Asian nations (Wellman, Cole).

Then there was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which barred certain laborers from migrating to the United States. Between 1885 and 1887 the Alien Contract Labor also, prohibited specific laborers from immigrating to the US. In 1891 the Federal Government took on the duty of admitting, inspecting, rejecting, and processing all immigrant in search of admission to the United States. On January 2, 1892, a Federal US immigration station opened on Ellis Island in New York Harbor. In 1903 a reaffirmed provisions that were in the 1891Act. The US immigration Act of 1907, reorganized the states bordering Mexico that includes Arizona, New Mexico and a large part of Texas. Between 1917 and 1924 there were a series of laws were ratified to limit the number of new aliens. These laws established the quota system and forced passport requirements. They also expanded the categories of excludable aliens and banned all Asians except the Japanese. A 1924 Act was created to reduced the number of US immigration visas and allocated them on the foundation of national origin. In 1940 The Alien Registration Act required all non-U.S. citizens within the United States to register with the Government and receive an Alien Registration Receipt Card, which was later called a Green Card. The Passage of the Internal Security Act of 1950 depicted the Alien Registration Receipt Card even more

Immigration through out the late 1800’s and early 1900’s created nativism throughout the United States. Millions of immigrants flocked to the United States trying to find a better way of life to be able to support their families. Industrialization in the United States provided a labor source for the immigrants. Native born Americans believed immigrants were a “threat to the American way of life” (ATF chapter 11) Social and economic fault lines developed between natives and immigrants, through out the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, going unnoticed until the late 1920’s when the Sacco and Vanzetti case brought awareness of issue to much of the United States.

The framework for American immigration policy began around the 1750-1820 period through the incorporation of colonial legacy with existing state and federal policy (Zolberg, 2009). The United States legislation has excluded whole nations and regions from migrating due to internal and external factors. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Page Act of 1875 restricted Chinese female immigration. In 1917 and 1924, quota systems were adopted to prohibit considerably “undesirable and “inferior” ethnic groups and races. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, between 400,000 and 1 million Mexican laborers and their families were deported under the “repatriation” programs. Approximately

There were many people who wanted to continue allowing immigration, while others were completely opposed to the idea. Some of the main groups who wanted to end immigration were the Klu Klux Klan, labor unions, and African American organizations. The Klan wanted to end immigration because they had the same hatred for immigrants as they did African Americans. Labor unions and African American organizations were simply fearful that their jobs would be given to these new people. In 1882, Congress began to take steps toward restricting immigration. The first immigrants to be excluded were Chinese. A literacy test was soon put into place, but did not reduce the immigrant quantity significantly enough, A quota would now be put into place. The number of immigrants allowed per year from each country would be drastically reduced. Japanese immigrants would be banned. Our nations new immigration policy was creating new problems. Many countries, specifically China and Japan, grew deeply belligerent. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are two immigrants famous for stealing and murdering a paymaster and a guard. These men kept their innocence through the trail, but they were still executed. This case showed how much our country once full of immigrants, had turned against

Since the beginning of times up until present time the United States Congress has always passed laws to limit immigrants rights. Immigrants who came to America for a better life have gone through many struggles due to the restrictions against them. Precedently, with the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited Chinese immigrants to enter the United States. Another act was the Gentlemen’s Agreement Act between Japan and America, where Japan agreed to limit immigration, only if President Theodore Roosevelt agreed to limit restrictions on Japanese immigrants. Then in 1924, Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924. The act limited the number of aliens that are allowed in the U.S. Congress passed this act because they felt that immigrant threaten America’s “old ways.” Congress wanted American to be “pure” again, by doing so, they had to get rid of many immigrants. The factors that led to Congress to pass the Immigration Act were to maintain American traditions, maintain jobs for American citizens, and repair the income.

1924’s Johnson-Reed Act lowered the quota to two per cent and used the 1890 census figures. It also provided that in 1927 no more than 150,000 immigrants per year would be admitted on the basis of their national origin. These quotas favored the Western European countries. No restrictions were placed on Western Hemisphere countries such as Canada and Mexico. Asians were totally excluded. Another feature the 1924 law provided was the partiality and non quota status given to certain relatives of American citizens such as parents, children under twenty-two, husbands and the wives and children under eighteen.

The immigration act of 1924 was really the first permanent limitation on immigration. This limitation was like a quota system that only aloud two percent instead of the three percent of each foreign born group living in the United states in 1890. Like it say in Document A “Under the act of 1924 the number of each nationality who may be admitted annually is limited to two per cent of the population of such nationality resident in the United States according to the census of 1890.” Using the 1890 census instead of newer up-to-date ones they excluded a lot of new immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe that came by in resent years (This is shown awfully well in Document B). This acts annual quota changed from 358,000 in 1921 to 164,000

The government targeted the Asian Americans as a threat. As Takaki asserted, “Unlike European immigrants, Asians were also victimized by the institutionalized racial discrimination of public policies.” These policies include the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the National Origins Act of 1924. The social image of America can clearly be seen as only “whites” when the government institute policies to encourage European women to arrive to America so the immigrants can form families, while Asian women were barred the entry to prevent families to form

The literacy tests required anyone over the age of 16 to “demonstrate reading comprehension in any language” (office of the historian). The test was only given to enable the government to deny people they did not want in the country. The other law which the Immigration Act of 1924 upheld was the ‘asiatic barred zone’. This law prevented anyone from most of Asia and the Pacific Islands from coming to America. It did not include japan or China, but people from these areas were already banned from immigrating to the United States. In addition to these rules the Immigration Act of 1924 instilled a stricter quota system that determined the number of migrants allowed into the United States from each country in the Eastern Hemisphere. The Western Hemisphere was exempt from the quota system. The new quota system allowed only “two percent of the foreign-born population” (office of the historian). It also made changes to the way in which quotas were calculated. The quota calculation would now be based on “the origins of the U.S. population, including natural-born citizens” rather than the number of people born outside of the U.S. (office of the historian). The result of these new restrictions and methods of

The 1924 law reaffirmed the 1880s legislation barring Chinese immigrants and added Japanese and other Asians to the list of the excluded. But it left open immigration from the Western Hemisphere. Farmers in the Southwest demanded continued access to cheap agricultural labor, and during the 1920s some 500,000 Mexicans crossed the border. In addition, Congress in 1924 passed the Indian Citizenship Act, which extended suffrage and citizenship to all American Indians. Indian veterans of World World I had already been made citizens, but now Congress deemed every Indian worthy of participating in American democracy.

Immigration has always and will always play an important role in America’s history, along with the United States having the most open immigration policy in the world to this date. American history began with flocks of immigrants competing for lands to start a life, bringing over their vast traditions and values. Some brought nothing but determination. It’s disgusting to see our congress and lawmakers make these higher-end laws to keep foreigners out, yet our country is built off immigrants. Since the 19th century, America has been the leading destination unlike no other for immigrants to reside. No other country has such a wide range of races and population like America. Diversity is indeed, what makes this country so unique. America has always

During the 1920’s the United States really became a country of immigrants, even though not everyone was on board. In this time we saw immigration numbers that would far exceed the decades that would come after it and only to be surpasses by the decade that came before in a 40 year span. Almost 4.3 million people came to the US in the 1920’s and they spanned from far and wide to come to the US. Numbers would dip in the coming decades and would not surpass the million mark for at least two decades. These numbers saw drops that would relate to immigrant life and US immigration tactics.

There were multiple regulations passes between 1880 and 1925 which regulated the number of immigrants entering the country. In 1882, the Immigration Act only allowed for people of "good stock" to enter the country. This act passed by Congress provided for the examination of immigrants and for the exclusion from the U.S. of convicts, prostitutes, persons suffering from diseases, and persons liable to become public charges. This act, along with the Chinese Exclusion Act, which disallowed immigrants from China to enter the country, was responsible for a precipitous decline in immigration. In 1885, The Alien Contract Labor Laws were created. They prohibited the immigration to the U.S. of persons entering the country to work under contracts made before their arrival. In 1887 the American Protective Association was created by Henry Bowers. It was a radical group that created conspiracy theories of