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For all practical purposes, the US had open borders until
1875. Many states actually promoted immigration as the
US needed settlers to tame the North American
wilderness, and most of the new arrivals came from
Northern Europe.
The first serious attempts to limit immigration occurred
through a series of laws enacted between 1875 and 1917.
These laws excluded lunatics, convicts, all Chinese
peoples, beggars, anarchists, and carriers of contagious
diseases. Immigrants during this period were assessed a
50-cents-per-person tax.
At the onset of the 20th century, the US received
upwards of one million immigrants per year. Most of the
new arrivals came from Eastern and Southern Europe, and
tended to be Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox or Jewish,
instead of belonging to America's predominant religion at
that time, Protestant Christianity. Many newcomers
couldn' t read or speak English.
A series of laws enacted between 1917 and 1924
attempted to limit the number of new immigrants. These
laws expanded the categories of excludable aliens,
established the quota system, and banned all Asians
except Japanese, who had made a 'gentleman's agreement'
with the US.
The quota system restricted the number of visas made
available to particular nationalities. The system, which
allocated visas according to the number of persons of the
same nationality living in the US, favoured the majority
ethnic groups, namely the Northern Europeans. The quota
system limited the total visas issued to 150,000 per year,
with no restrictions on persons born in the Western
Hemisphere. Additionally, the US Congress decided to bar
citizenship to 'Orientals', which meant that Asians,
including Japanese, could no longer become US citizens.
By 1924, US immigration law limited the total number
of aliens and imposed qualitative restrictions.
UNDERSTANDING THE MODERN IMMIGRATION
SYSTEM
The next major change in immigration law occurred with
the 1952 Act, which established the modern immigration
system. The new quota system created limits on a per-
country basis without regard to the number of persons of
particular nationalities currently living in the US. Asian
immigration was limited, rather than restricted.
The 1952 Act also established the preference system
that gave priority to family members and people with
special skills. This was the first attempt to target
immigrants with special skills.
Subsequent changes to the immigration laws were
driven by a more enlightened attitude toward civil rights.
Positive changes were also due to the increasing need for
US multinational corporations to attract skilled labour, and
to transfer key personnel between the US and foreign
operations.
In 1968 Congress officially abolished restrictions on
Asian immigration. It also eliminated immigration
discrimination based on race, place of birth, sex and
residence. In 1970 Congress implemented the L-l - or
managerial-transfer - programme. In 1976 Congress
eliminated preferential treatment for residents of the
Western Hemisphere.