US Immigration Law - History

United States of America gives the status of permanent resident to more migrants than the rest of the world put together. As per the census data taken, there were more than 38 million first generation immigrants in 2007. Majority of the immigrants are from Mexico, India and Philippines. The promise of a better life and fairer laws make the United States one of the favorite immigration destinations from across the world. Although US faces high illegal emigration problems, especially from Mexico and Latin American countries, the federal government has brought in several laws to curb it and the law enforcement authorities relentlessly enforce the laws. Read on to know more about the history of the US immigration laws, the effects and legal issues.

The history of immigration to America can be viewed in 4 distinct phases. Starting with the colonial phase (1600AD- 1800 AD), the land of North America saw successful colonization by the English and European migrants. English migrants set colonies in Virginia and Massachusetts and Dutch migrants settled near the Hudson River in the New York City area. The wave of colonial migration was heaviest from 1600 AD to 1700 AD. The next distinct phase is the mid 19th century phase, Events around the world like the French revolution and Irish Potato famine again caused large scale migration from across Europe. In 1875, USA passed its first law with regards to emigration, The Page Act, 1875. The law outlawed human trafficking of Chinese women as sex slaves.

In the next phase, the New Immigration phase from 1800 to 1930 saw USA becoming the melting pot from immigrants from eastern and southern Europe, Asia and Japan. As these immigrants were predominantly Jewish, it sparked tension among the existing communities and saw a rise of conservatism. The Americans were concerned about the cultural change, religious tension and poverty that would come with mass scale migration from completely foreign cultures. In 1921, the Emergency Quota and in 1924 the Immigration Act were passed for restricting this mass scale migration from Eastern Europe. Many Jewish refugees, fleeing from the growing Nazi power were banned form entering the United States. Restrictions were put in terms of numbers and educational qualification required for immigration to the USA.

With the beginning of the 1930's, the immigration pattern saw a reverse trend with more people leaving America than immigrating into it. This was because of the Great Depression which lasted for 10 years up till 1940. The only significant legal development in immigration during these years was the Tidings Mc Duffy Act, 1934, which gave independence to Philippines in 1946. Post that, USA has seen mass migration of Filipinos totaling to 1,728, 000 in 2004. Post WW II the War Brides Act was passed in 1945 which allowed immigration of foreign born wives to US nationals who had fought in the WWII. The Displaced Persons Act was also passed which offered immigration to people displaced due to the WWII.

In the next major development, in 1965, the Congress abolished the national origin quota for immigration under the Hart Cellar Act. Today the maximum numbers of legal migrants come from China and India.