Many immigrants came to America for economic opportunity. Pilgrims in the early 1600's were searching for religious freedom. The first significant federal legislation restricting immigration was the 1882 Chinese Act. This law placed ahead tax on each immigrant and made China illegal. One thing that grew increasingly important is the constitutional objectives and the state sovereignty. Arizona and Alabama argued that our constitution's system of federalism conserves a constitutional state authority to reinforce immigration laws. Their were some up and downs for the United States during immigration and the political attitudes toward immigrants were sometimes conflicting. Many countries like England, France, and Germany were trying to search for political freedom and economic opportunity.
In 1819, Congress elected the first significant federal legislation that relates to immigration. The government encouraged to open immigration by settling as much territory as possible. Between 1872 and 1890, Congress restricted immigration of prostitutes, criminals, and mentally ill and unstable people. Around 1900 to 1921, Congress well-established a "quota system" which admitted permission to a set of individuals from each group to immigrate except the Asian nations because they were excluded entirely. In 1924, there were a lot of major concerns about the border security because it keeps increasing. Immigration rates dropped instantly during the Great Depression between 1929-1940. During World War II, Congress made revisions to the immigration policy so that way they could leave people homeless. In 1952, Congress passed the McCarran-Walter immigration which repealed any restrictions based on ethnicity. It also opens to the people from any nation. There was a new system developed in 1965 when Congress abandoned the quota system and accepted the "need" of each applicant. This made it easier for people because they were allowed to entrance labor, family unification and political asylum. But it restricted immigration from Mexico and had an increase for illegal immigration. During the immigration debate, illegal immigration became the major chief issue. Congress acknowledged additional powers to law enforcement to allow the punishment for people who encourage illegal immigration. Congress made it absolutely illegal for the U.S. government to deny entrance for political beliefs and associations. They addressed this from Latin America with laws that are doubled the number of border control agencies. They also added fences with heavy traffic and increased penalties for aiding illegal immigrants. |