Immigration Timeline

Bracero Agreement, 1942

A bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Mexico to permit Mexican nationals to serve as temporary agricultural workers during WWII labor shortages. Required employers to pay a wage equal to that paid to U.S.-born farmworkers and provide transportation and living expenses. In effect until 1964.

World-wide immigration ceiling introduced, 1978

A new annual immigration ceiling of 290,000 replaces the separate ceilings for the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) and DACA Program Expanded, 2014

A second executive action by Presiden Obama, it allows unauthorized immigrant parents who have lived in the U.S. at least five years and have children who are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents to apply for deportation relief and a three-year work permit. Also expands eligibility for DACA to any unauthorized immigrant who entered the U.S. illegally as a child. This executive action is on hold as a state challenge works its way through the courts.

Refugee Act, 1980

A system is developed to handle refugees as a class separate from other immigrants. Under the new law, refugees are defined as those who flee a country because of persecution "on account of race, religion, nationality, or political opinion." The president, in consultation with Congress, is authorized to establish an annual ceiling on the number of refugees who may enter the United States. The president also is allowed to admit any group of refugees in an emergency. At the same time, the annual ceiling on traditional immigration is lowered to 270,000.

Literacy test introduced, 1917

All immigrants 16 years of age or older must demonstrate the ability to read a forty-word passage in their native language. Also, virtually all Asian immigrants are banned from entry into the United States.

Naturalization Act of 1870

Amends naturalization requirements to extend eligibility to individuals of African nativity or descent.

Emergency Quota Act, 1921

An annual immigration ceiling is set at 350,000. Moreover, a new nationality quota is instituted, limiting admissions to 3 percent of each nationality group's representation in the 1910 U.S. Census. The law is designed primarily to restrict the flow of immigrants coming from eastern and southern Europe.

Refugee Relief Act, 1953

Authorized special non-quota visas for more than 200,000 refugees and allowed these immigrants to become permanent residents.

Alien Friends Act, 1798

Authorized the president to imprison or deport any alien who was deemed dangerous to the U.S. This act was the first to authorize deportation for immigrants. It expired two years after it was enacted. (Part of the Alien and Sedition Acts)

Chinese Exclusion Act

Banned Chinese laborers from immigrating for the next 10 years and authorized deportation of unauthorized Chinese immigrants. Any Chinese immigrant who resided in the U.S. as of Nov. 17, 1880, could remain but was barred from naturalizing.

Ellis Island opens, 1892

Between 1892 and 1953, more than 12 million immigrants will be processed at this one facility.

1875 First exclusionary act.

Convicts, prostitutes, and "coolies" (Chinese contract laborers) are barred from entry into the United States.

Refugee Act of 1980

Creates a general policy for admission of refugees and adopts the United Nations' refugee definition. Removes refugees from the immigration preference system, expanding the annual admission for refugees. The removal of refugees from the immigration preference system reduced the annual visa allocation to 270,000.

Reporting rule adopted, 1819

Data begins to be collected on immigration into the United States. Ships' captains and others are required to keep and submit manifests of immigrants entering the United States.

Displaced Persons Act, 1948

Entry is allowed for 400,000 persons displaced by World War II. However, such refugees must pass a security check and have proof of employment and housing that does not threaten U.S. citizens' jobs and homes.

Office of Immigration created, 1891

Established as part of the U.S. Treasury Department, this new office is later given authority over naturalization and moved to the U.S. Justice Department. (Today it is known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service.) In the same year, paupers, polygamists, the insane, and persons with contagious diseases are excluded from entry to the United States.

Labor Appropriation Act, 1924

Establishes U.S. Border Patrol as a federal law enforcement agency to combat illegal immigration and smuggling along the borders between inspection stations. In 1925, the agency's duties expand to patrolling the seacoasts.

Naturalization Act of 1790

Federal government establishes a two-year residency requirement on immigrants wishing to become U.S. citizens.

Secure Fence Act, 2006

Following the failure of immigration reform legislation in the Senate, this law mandates the construction of a double-layered fence approximately 700 miles long (not yet completed, largely due to lack of funding) and increases staffing and technology at the Southwest border.

Immigration Act, 1996

In an effort to curb illegal immigration, Congress votes to double the U.S. Border Patrol to 10,000 agents over five years and mandates the construction of fences at the most heavily trafficked areas of the U.S.-Mexico border. Congress also approves a pilot program to check the immigration status of job applicants.

Homeland Security Act, 2002

In the wake of 9/11, the Homeland Security Act transfers nearly all the functions of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which includes U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Immigration Act is amended, 1965

Nationality quotas are abolished. However, the Act establishes an overall ceiling of 170,000 on immigration from the Eastern Hemisphere and another ceiling of 120,000 on immigration from the Western Hemisphere.

Immigrants lose benefits, 1996

President Clinton signs welfare reform bill that cuts many social programs for immigrants. Legal immigrants lose their right to food stamps and Supplemental Security Income (a program for older, blind, and disabled people). Illegal immigrants become ineligible for virtually all federal and state benefits except emergency medical care, immunization programs, and disaster relief.

Migration and Refugee Assistance Act, 1962

President Kennedy directed the secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (forerunner to the Department of Health and Human Services) to create a program to provide medical care, financial aid, help with education and resettlement, and child welfare services for Cuban refugees. The Migration and Refugee Assistance Act formalized the Cuban Refugee Program and assisted individuals in the Western Hemisphere fleeing "persecution or fear of persecution on account of race, religion or political opinion."

Magnuson Act (Chinese Exclusion Reeal Act), 1943

Repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act and established a quota of about 105 Chinese immigrants per year. In contrast to other quotas, which are based on country of citizenship, the quota for Chinese was based on ancestry. Chinese residents were also eligible to naturalize.

Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act, 2002

Requires an electronic data system be used to make available information relevant to admissions and removability of immigrants; mandates implementation of a visa entry-exit data system (which becomes US-VISIT).

Immigration Ceiling Further Reduced, 1927

The annual immigration ceiling is further reduced to 150,000; the quota is revised to 2 percent of each nationality's representation in the 1920 census. This basic law remains in effect through 1965.

1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act

The annual immigration ceiling is raised to 540,000. Amnesty is offered to those illegal aliens able to prove continuous residence in the United States since January 1

1952 McCarran-Walter Act

The Act consolidates earlier immigration laws and removes race as a basis for exclusion. In addition, the Act introduces an ideological criterion for admission: immigrants and visitors to the United States can now be denied entry on the basis of their political ideology (e.g., if they are Communists or former Nazis).

1924 National Origins Act

The Act reduces the annual immigration ceiling to 165,000. A revised quota reduces admissions to 2 percent of each nationality group's representation in the 1890 census. The U.S. Border Patrol is created.

1975 Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act

The Ford administration began evacuating 130,000 Vietnamese in early 1975 as it became clear that South Vietnam would fall to the communist North. This act extended the refugee delineation to include those fleeing Cambodia and Vietnam and designated funds for the relocation and resettlement of refugees. In 1976, it was amended to include Laotian refugees.

Immigration Act of 1990

The annual immigration ceiling is further raised to 700,000 for 1992, 1993,and 1994; thereafter, the ceiling will drop to 675,000 a year. Ten thousand permanent resident visas are offered to those immigrants agreeing to invest at least $1 million in U.S. urban areas or $500,000 in U.S. rural areas. The McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 is amended so that people can no longer be denied admittance to the United States on the basis of their beliefs, statements, or associations.

The Know-Nothings win significan victories in Congress, 1854

The Know-Nothings, a nativist political party seeking to increase restrictions on immigration, win significant victories in Congress, a sign of popular dissatisfaction with growing immigration from Catholic Ireland. Protestant Americans feared that growing Catholic immigration would place American society under control of the Pope.

1882 Immigration Act passed.

The federal government moves to firmly establish its authority over immigration. Chinese immigration is curtailed; ex-convicts, lunatics, idiots, and those unable to take care of themselves are excluded. In addition, a tax is levied on newly arriving immigrants.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, 2012

Through an executive action by President Obama, young adults (ages 15 to 30) brought to the U.S. illegally as children can apply for temporary deportation relief and a two-year work permit. As of March 31, 2015, roughly 665,000 applicants had been approved for DACA.

Immigration Act of 1864

To address labor shortages due to the Civil War, this act made contracts for immigrant labor formed abroad enforceable by U.S. courts. It also created a commissioner of immigration, appointed by the president to serve under the secretary of state.

"Gentleman's agreement", 1907

between United States and Japan. An informal agreement curtails Japanese immigration to the United States. Also, the tax on new immigrants is increased.