Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 - Answers Barred immigration of Chinese laborers and declared the
Chinese "ineligible for citizenship". A turning point in immigration policy, the Chinese Exclusion act
was the first federal law to specifically limit immigration on the basis of race. Although some people
claimed that the law was inspired by prejudice and that it legalized racial discrimination, few spoke
out against it.
Geary Act of 1892 - Answers Chinese Exclusion Act extended for 10 years.
Chinese Exclusion Act Made permanent 1902 - Answers Chinese Exclusion Act Made permanent 1902
Immigration Act of 1917 - Answers Required all immigrants 16 years and older to read a 40-word
passage in either English or "some other language or dialect, including Hebrew or Yiddish".
Quota Act of 1921 - Answers Congress made a temporary law that set limits for immigration based on
recent population figures. The law restricted overall immigration. Favored immigrants from Northern
and Western Europe- immigrants from the same countries that had contributed to the population of
the original 13 colonies. This law stopped immigration at 350,000 people per year, and it sharply
reduced immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe from an annual average of 783,000 to only
155,000.
National Origins Act of 1924 - Answers Congress made quota law permanent and even stricter.
Annual limit of 150,000 immigrants, based quotas on population figures from 1890. Continued
exclusion of Asian immigrants. As a result, annual immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe
dropped to below 25,000. Asian immigration almost stopped. Congress later amended the law, basing
quotas on population figures for 1920. National Origins Act set the tone for immigration policy for the
next 40 years.
Alien Registration Act of 1940 - Answers Required all residents to register with the government. This
was done because the government wanted to keep track of people they thought might be spies
because this occurred during WWII.
1942-1946 Executive Order 9066 - Answers U.S. government declared people of Japanese ancestry a
threat to the safety of the United States. Sent away from homes into ten isolated camps because they
wanted to keep the United States safe from the Japanese.
1943 repeal of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act - Answers Chinese Americans benefited from the war
greatly. Because they fought as allies in WWII, The United States decided to repeal the Chinese
Exclusion act as a thank you to China for fighting with them, but the U.S. still only allowed 100 Chinese
immigrants in per year.
Displaced Persons Act of 1948 - Answers Allowed 205,000 WWII immigrants into the United States
over two years because homes were destroyed by the War. Four years later, it removed all racial
restrictions against immigration and naturalization with the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 - Answers Came about largely because the U.S. wanted to
stop the spread of communism in Eastern Europe and needed allies among people in Asia, Africa, and
the Middle East. Law strengthened power of the U.S. government to deport undesirable aliens and
required careful screening of new arrivals for possible for membership in suspicious organizations.
Main purpose of Immigration and Nationality Act was to reunite families by allowing more relatives of
naturalized citizens as "non quota" immigrants. Families separated relationships, skills, and refugee
status.
Immigration Act of 1965 - Answers Allowed immigrants already in the U.S. to bring over their
relatives, who could bring over more relatives, called chain migration. Capped immigration at 290,000
and replaced quotas for individual countries with general quotas for the entire Eastern and Western
hemispheres, ending discrimination against southeastern Europe, Asia and the Pacific countries.
1978 amendments to Immigration Act of 1965 - Answers Replaced hemispheric quotas with a single
worldwide quota.
Refugee Act of 1980 - Answers Removed refugees from the preference categories and established
clear procedures for admission, allowing for both a regular flow and the emergency admission of
refugees.
Report from the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy of 1981 - Answers Evaluated
immigration policies and procedures
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 - Answers Goal was to amend, revise, and reform the
status of unauthorized immigrants set forth in the Immigration and Nationality Act.