from "A Brief History of U.S. Immigration Policy from the Colonial Period to the Present Day" Executive Summary Conflicting visions and piecemeal legislation have left the United States with an archaic and barely coherent immigration system with outdated policy objectives that is primarily controlled by the executive branch of government. ++++ Above 86 million immigrants have entered the United States from 1783 to the end of 2019. Major immigrant waves 1831-1860 4.9 million immigrants primarily Northern European 1861-1890 10.4 million immigrants primarily Southern and Eastern European - many desired to work in the U.S. temporarily to return home. Those who migrated to the colonies on their own volition were drawn by the allure of cheap land, high wages, and the freedom of conscience in British North America. Many of these individuals financed their passage by entering into indentured servitude contracts. This arrangement meant that migrants exchanged future years of their labor for passage to North America. At the end of their contracts, the indentured servants would be discharged with a small amount of cash, skills, and sometimes land on the new continent. During the 1700s, a significant share of Europeans coming to British North America were indentured servants. 1717 The Transportation Act granted English courts the ability to sentence convicts for up to 14 years as indentured servants and forced emigration. Before the American Revolution, Britain transported about 50,000 convicts to the American colonies. The largest population of forced migrants to North America were not criminals from Britain but 388,000 African slaves. 1740 Parliament passed the Plantation Act to ease the colonial naturalization process and spur settlement. The Pact created a uniform naturalization system that granted new, non-Catholic colonial settlers English naturalization after seven years of residency contingent upon a religious test, a pledge of allegiance, and a statement of Christian belief to which some people, such as Jews, were exempt. 1755 Over one million colonial residents which worried some in England. 1775 2.2 million colonial residents - much of that growth fueled by the 346,000 European immigrants and their descendants. Three fundamental concepts underlie U.S. citizenship law: 1. jus soli, the right of the soil, which means that those born on U.S. soil are automatically granted citizenship. 2. jus sanguinis, the right of blood, which means that those born to U.S. citizens in other countries automatically earn U.S. citizenship under most conditions. 3. pledged allegiance, whereby those who civically commit to the United States become U.S. citizens. Pledged allegiance is related to the concept of naturalization, the process by which an immigrant voluntarily moves to the United States and swears allegiance to the government to fully enter American political life through citizenship... Pledge of allegiance was the ticket to receive the full panoply of political rights in a new and struggling nation. PAGE 5 The Constitutional Convention’s decision to only grant the federal government authority over naturalization meant that states regulated immigration as part of their policing powers—banishing criminals and noncitizens, denying entry to the poor, and even attempting to ban whole races. Factors for greater immigration for the early U.S. Ideology Population Payment of national debts New laborers 1790 U.S. Census 3.9 million residents; 80.7% white; 19.3 African slaves. Only 69.3% could trace their origins to England, Scotland or Wales. The country was ethnically and racially heterogenous. 1790 The Naturalization Act of 1790 extended citizenship to free white persons of good character who had resided in the United States for two years and took an oath of allegiance. The law excluded indentured servants, non-whites, and slaves from naturalization. Despite these exclusions, the Naturalization Act of 1790 was arguably the most liberal naturalization law to date, as it created a short and uniform path to citizenship that lacked gender requirements, religious tests, skills tests, or country of origin requirements. 1795 The Naturalization Act of 1795 Fear of foreign-born populations with voting rights could undermine national security. The Naturalization Act of 1795 increased the residency requirement for naturalization to five years and added a clause requiring prospective citizens to declare their intention to naturalize three years before doing so. Notably, the Naturalization Act of 1795 held a religious and moral subtext that changed “good character” to “good moral character.” 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts (many expired by 1801) Due to the looming war with France, Congress passed a series of bills in 1798 collectively known as the Alien and Sedition Acts that expanded the federal government’s involvement in immigration policy. Together these acts subjected aliens to the threat of national surveillance and arbitrary arrest and granted a new power to the president to deport noncitizens via decree. Notably, these acts increased the residency period for naturalization to 14 years and required that prospective citizens declare their intent to naturalize five years before doing so. 1802 Congress passed the Naturalization Law of 1802 reverted the residency requirements for naturalization to five years. 1819 Congressional legislation required ship captains to provide a passenger manifest to track immigration flows for the first time. Due to economic depression in England, legislation lowered the carrying capacity of passenger ships and increased the price of travel, reducing the number of poor immigrants who could afford passage. 1830 Second Wave U.S. population was about 12.9 million. Immigrants in this second wave relied on credit or family remittances to pay for their passage to the United States. International Developments 1845 Irish Potato Famine 1848 European political revolutions Increase number of immigrants from 599,125 in 1830s to 1,713,251 through 1840s 1812-1861 Antebellum Period, immigrants were mainly German, Irish, English, Canadian, and French. Varying cultures and religions, particularly German craftworkers and Irish Catholics caused the emergence of nativist political parties. Nativists worried about wage competition, welfare programs, and the Catholic vs Protestant dichotomy. Nativists worried that Catholics would oppose slavery. 1850s American Pary also called the Know Nothings - wanted to increase the residency period for naturalization to 21 years. Civil War President Abraham Lincoln contended that "our immigrants [are] one of the principal replenishing streams which are appointed by Providence to repair the ravages of internal war and its waste of national strength and wealth." 1862 Homestead Act - offered land grants to citizens and immigrants willing to settle and develop land for five years. 1864 Act to Encourage Immigration also known as the Contract Labor Act - allowed private employers to recruit foreign workers, pay their transportation costs, and contract their labor. 1868 Burlingame-Seward Treaty The Lincoln administration had a longer-term effect on American immigration policy when it appointed Anson Burlingame as the U.S. Minister to China in 1861. Burlingame negotiated the Burlingame-Seward trade treaty with China in 1868. Recognizing the "mutual advantage of the free migration and emigration of their citizens," the Burlingame-Seward Treaty ensured that Chinese citizens had the right to emigrate and enter the United States. It was a Chinese law that did not permit immigration to the U.S., the treaty required the Chinese government to allow emigration to the United States. By 1870 14.4% of the U.S. population was foreign born. 1868 The 14th Amendment is ratified - "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside," except for emigrants and descendants of China. The federal government held this position toward Chinese immigrants and their descendants until the Supreme Court ruled otherwise in the 1898 United States v. Wong Kim Ark decision. 1870 Naturalization Act of 1870 only granted naturalization rights to "aliens being free white persons, and to aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent." 1875 The Page Act of 1875 Nationwide anti-Chinese sentiment was so strong that Congress passed the Page Act of 1875 restricting the immigration of Chinese contract laborers, convicts, and Chinses women, most of whom were the wives of male workers on the grounds that they were prostitutes. These restrictions were in violation of the Burlingame-Seward Treaty. 1882 The Immigration Act of 1882 Imposed a $0.50 federal head tax on each alien passenger to fund immigration enforcement.55 It also mandated that state officials identify and deny entry to "any convict, lunatic, idiot, or any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge." 1882 The Chinese Exclusion Act Imposed a 10-year ban on Chinese laborers and Congress extended this ban through 1943. 1884 Head Money Cases, the Supreme Court decided that Congress had "the power to pass a law regulating immigration as a part of the commerce of this country with foreign nations" and overrode state immigration policies. 1889 Chae Chang Ping vs United States Justice Stephen Field recounted California’s constitutional convention, which had found that "the presence of Chinese laborers had a baneful effect upon the material interests of the state, and upon public morals; that their immigration was in numbers approaching the character of an Oriental invasion, and was a menace to our civilization." Field then reasoned that the United States had the power to "preserve its independence, and give security against foreign aggression and encroachment," such as Chinese migration. The Supreme Court's decision created a "constitutional oddity" that subsequently decreased judicial oversight of immigration law. 1890 14.8% of the U.S. population was foreign-born 1891 The Immigration Act of 1891 Expanded the list of excluded immigrants, enabled the deportation of immigrants present for less than a year if government authorities later found them excludable, and established the Office of the Superintendent of Immigration within the Treasury Department — later reformed as the Bureau of Immigration. The act also made immigration inspectors' rulings final and ended the possibility of judicial review, although the Treasury Secretary could still review them. Early 1900s Marked by Eugenics, Nationalism, Xenophobia Many argued that immigrants impeded the achievement of an ideal society, committed crimes, and abused welfare. Others proposed that the government had a duty to protect natives from immigrants who supposedly depressed innovation and lowered native-born American wages. Scholars of the era contended that certain ethnicities possessed immutable intrinsic characteristics that would prevent assimilation into American society. To combat these perceived ills, Progressives championed mandatory literacy tests, as well as various other eugenics-inspired racial and ethnic exclusions of Jews, Asians, and Africans. The immigration of Japanese laborers was blocked via the informal Gentlemen's Agreement. 1903 The Immigration Act of 1903 expanded the list of excludable immigrants and excluded aliens from "due process protection hitherto provided by the Fourteenth Amendment to all 'persons' rather than 'citizens.'" In 1903, Congress also relocated the Bureau of Immigration to the Department of Commerce and Labor. 1911 Dillingham Commission Report - 41 volume study Its members cherry-picked data to reach the predetermined conclusion that immigrants from Northern and Western Europe were innately superior to those from Southern and Eastern Europe. When data revealed large numbers of Northern and Western Europeans sought welfare in American cities, the Dillingham Commission returned the data "for further information or for corrections." Despite its methodological flaws, policy-makers embraced the report and its recommendations because it confirmed their prejudices. The Americanization movement started as a collective of private nonprofit organizations that backed civics classes, language lessons, and the destruction of the “hyphenated American.” This movement eventually morphed into a series of government programs that wrote school curricula to push for immigrant assimilation, including banning the German language from being spoken in public schools. 1917 Immigration Act of 1917 - sanctioned legal immigrants' detention and deportation if they committed a deportable crime within five years of their arrival. It also imposed literacy tests and other measures to limit immigration from Africa and Asia. 1921 The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 established a cap on the number of quota admissions equal to roughly 358,000 for immigrants from the Eastern Hemisphere, exempting immediate relatives. This was the first American immigration law that substantially emphasized family-based immigration over economic immigrants. Of the total quota admissions, the bill allocated 55 percent to Northern and Western European countries. Before 1921 immigration laws pertained primarily to which immigrants to exclude while others could migrate. Since 1921 federal agencies have decided which immigrants are admitted. 1924 The Immigration Act of 1924, also known as the National Origins Act - reduced the annual quota from roughly 358,000 to about 164,000. The law also established per-country cap allocations: 82% from Western and Northern Europe 14% from Eastern and Southern Europe 4% from the remaining Eastern Hemisphere The act established three categories of immigrants: quota immigrants entering under immigration statutes as permanent residents nonquota immigrants entering as spouses and unmarried children of quota immigrants nonimmigrants entering temporarily No quotas on immigrants from the Western Hemisphere so immigration from Mexico and Canada spiked. The 1924 Immigration Act required the prescreening of immigrants at embassies and consulates abroad, implementing a visa system, and deporting illegal arrivals. To enforce the law, Congress also created the U.S. Border Patrol. Additionally, Congress allowed Immigration Bureau agents to arrest illegal border crossers without obtaining warrants, to board and search vessels, and to access private lands within 25 miles of the border. Despite these powers, an estimated 175,000 illegal entries occurred annually. Five years before the 1924 act an average of 554,920 legal immigrants arrived each year, during the five years after the act, the average number of legal immigrants per year dropped to 304,182. By 1932 the inflow of legal immigrants had fallen to 35,576. Through the decade of 1930s, legal immigration averaged 69,938 annually. From 1924 to 1940 the number of immigrants to the United States dropped by 90%. 1933 An executive order merged the Bureau of Immigration and the Bureau of Naturalization into the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) with the Department of Labor. As the country entered the Great Depression, Secretary of Labor William N. Doak thought that deporting illegal immigrants would create jobs for natives. As a result, the federal government deported more than one million Mexicans and persons of Mexican ancestry in what was euphemistically known as “repatriation,” even though approximately 60 percent of the deportees were U.S. citizens born in the U.S. to Mexican parents. The repatriation efforts only increased unemployment rates for native-born Americans. 1940 The Alien Registration Act forced noncitizens to register with the federal government, provide fingerprints, and notify the government in the event of an address change. The law also made prior involvement in the Communist, Fascist, or Nazi political parties grounds for deportation. The Department of Justice took over the INS. Two months after the United States entered into World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, establishing concentration and detention camps for Japanese and Germans inside the United States. The 1920s immigration laws did not allow exceptions to the quotas for refugees. With the rise of Hitler, Congress was so indifferent to the refugee crisis that it defeated a 1939 proposal that would have facilitated the migration of 20,000 children from Nazi Germany, even though all of the children had U.S. family sponsors. The postwar revelation of the Holocaust shamed the United States for its pre-war anti-refugee policy and generated political support for: 1948 Displaced Persons Act 1953 Refugee Relief Act As a result of these and other provisions, the United States admitted more than a half million refugees between 1945 and 1953. Another motivating factor for liberalizing refugee flows after World War II was the realization that the United States could use refugee policy to increase its international prestige relative to that of the Soviet Union in order to combat Soviet propaganda. Congress made the first moves in this direction during World War II when it lifted the ban on Chinese immigrants and established a meager quota in 1943 to limit the effectiveness of Japanese propaganda. 1942 The Bracero Program (due to an executive order called the Mexican Farm Labor Program) - similar to the temporary-worker programs of 1917 and 1922 that allowed for the entry of 50,000 to 80,000 Mexican laborers. Between 1942 and 1964, the Bracero Program facilitated roughly 4.5 million Mexican agricultural workers' legal entry. Illegal immigration increased substantially in 1947 when the Bracero Program temporarily ended. This influx of illegal immigrants prompted the federal government to arrest 142,000 illegal workers between 1947 and 1949 before returning them to the border to grant them temporary work visas, a process that eventually morphed into a revamped Bracero Program. 1951 Legal reform and expansion of Bracero guest worker visa program 1954 Operation Weback removed almost a million illegal immigrants. However, the government legalized many of those apprehended. Some illegal immigrants took "a walk-around the statute" to gain a bracero worker visa — a process where they were driven down to the Mexican border by the INS or Border Patrol and made to take one step across the border and then immediately reenter the United States legally with a bracero work visa. The combination of a legal migration pathway with consequences for breaking immigration laws incentivized Mexican migrants to come legally. 1964 After Congress canceled the program in 1964 in response to political pressure from labor unions and labor organizers, illegal immigration jumped because Congress failed to replace it with another effective lower-skilled guest worker visa program. 1950s McCarran Report defended the National Origin Act's system of allocating quotas as the best way to "preserve the sociological and cultural balance of the United States," in other words preserve whitness. 1952 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act - increased the quota for Europeans from outside of Northern and Western Europe, granted the Department of State the ability to deny entry to those it thought would lower native wages, repealed the 1880s' prohibitions against contract labor, and set a minimum quota of a hundred visas for immigrants from every country. The bill promoted family reunification by continuing the exemption of children and spouses of citizens from the numerical caps. The 1952 act introduced four preference categories: 50% to immigrants with needed skills 30% to parents of adult citizens 20% to spouses and children of legal residents and any unused green cards to the siblings and adult children of citizens. The 1952 act also created nonimmigrant visa categories that are still familiar: E - treaty trader or investor F-1 student H-1 temporary worker of distinguished ability or merit 1952-1960 Immigration rebounded from its World War II lows and averaged 257,000 immigrants per year, but the 1960 census revealed that only 5.4 percent of the United States' population was foreign-born. 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act - ended the national quota system and replaced it entirely with a preference system for immigrants from the Eastern Hemisphere. The 1965 act created categories of immigrants that included the unmarried and married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens; siblings of U.S. citizens; spouses and unmarried sons and daughters of green card holders; members of the professions that include, but are not limited to, architects, engineers, lawyers, physicians, surgeons, and teachers; scientists and artists of exceptional ability; skilled and unskilled workers in occupations for which labor was in short supply; and some refugees. Green cards were allotted to: 74% family members 20% for workers 6% for refugees Immigration was limited to 290,000 annually - 170,000 from the Eastern Hemisphere, 120,000 from the Western Hemisphere. The act limited immigration from any individual Eastern Hemisphere country to 20,000 annually. By 1976, this provision also applied to Western Hemisphere countries. The act extended the administrative amnesty of 1929 to those who were illegally present in 1948, legalizing about 44,106 illegal immigrants by 1981. Demographically, the removal of racial restrictions significantly increased the number of Asian immigrants and slightly increased the number of Hispanic immigrants. Geographically, Florida, California, New York, Texas, Illinois, and New Jersey received the bulk of new immigrants. 1980 Refugee Act - due to waves of refugees fleeing communism from 1967 to 1980 temporarily raised the refugee limits from 17,600 to 50,000 and established a new category for asylum seekers. From 1980 to 2000, the federal government accepted an average of 97,000 refugees per year. Under the Refugee Act of 1980, the president sets worldwide and regional refugee num- bers. 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) Two main components: - amnesty for illegal immigrants who had lived continuously in the country since January 1, 1982 - immigrants earned green cards and saw substantial wage gains. - penalties for employers who willingly hired illegal immigrants. The bill granted roughly three million illegal immigrants amnesty and created 109 new INS offices to enforce immigration laws. IRCA boosted the number of Border Patrol agents along the southwest border to roughly 3,350 agents by 1988, but illegal immigration continued to increase. 1988 Anti-Drug Abuse Act created a category of offenses called aggravated felonies that subjected noncitizens to deportation after completing their prison sentence. By 2016, more than 30 types of offenses were deemed aggravated felonies, including minor crimes with a sentence of one year or more. 1989 Legal immigration flows surpassed one million, the first time since 1914. By 1990, the immigrant stock was 19.8 million, accounting for 7.9 percent of the U.S. population. 1990 Immigration Act Increased the number of green cards issued annually to 675,000; the per-country ceiling was raised to 25,620. Origin of immigrants issued green cards: 7% Europe 22% Asia 59% Mexico, Central America, South America Much of the shift was due to economic development globally. Whereas Europe and Canada were wealthy regions relative to the rest of the world, developing nations were wealthy enough that their citizens could emigrate, but not yet wealthy enough to entice them to stay. The Immigration Act of 1990 added and reformed nonimmigrant visas for skilled workers, such as the H-1B visa for skilled workers in specialty occupations and the O-1 visa for individuals with extraordinary ability or achievement. The bill allocated 55,000 immigration visas to a Diversity Visa program that awarded visas to nationals from countries with low levels of immigration to the United States; it did so to target Ireland. In 1994 almost all diversity visa recipients were from European countries. Illegal immigration increased from about 3.5 million in 1990 to 5.7 million in 1995. 1990s State level legislation California Proposition 187 - curtailed welfare for illegal immigrants and required state employees to report suspected illegal immigrants to the INS. California Proposition 227 - eliminated bilingual education in public schools. Federal level legislation by Clinton administration: 1993 Operation Hold the Line 1994 Operation Gatekeeper 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act Increased the penalties for illegal entry, created mandatory detention for many classes of noncitizens, and expedited deportation procedures for certain cases. The bills also limited judicial review of certain types of deportations and allowed secret evidence in removal proceedings for noncitizens accused of terrorist activity. 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act Increased the interior deportation apparatus in the United States and prevented illegal immigrants from using the legal system to earn a green card through the so-called three-and-ten-year bars, which prevented illegally present immigrants who leave the United States from legally returning for any reason. 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. The act made most noncitizens ineligible for means-tested welfare, authorized the states to deny providing welfare such as Medicaid to immigrants, and delayed the possibility of receiving welfare for most immigrants for five years. 1997 Border Patrol agents along the southwest border doubled since 1987 to 6,315. The additional enforcement measures increased the cost of crossing the border illegally, increased illegal immigrants' use of smugglers, inflated smugglers' fees, and decreased the incentive for illegal immigrants to return home after successfully entering the United States. IMMIGRATION POLICY IN THE 21ST CENTURY: 2000–2020 2000 Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush appealed to Hispanic voters by supporting expanded legal immigration and legalization for illegal immigrants 2000 Twenty-First Century Act Temporarily raised the annual H-1B cap and permanently exempted universities and nonprofit research institutions from the visa cap 2001 USA Patriot Act (October following 9/11) The Patriot Act reduced the rights of immigrants by expanding deportation powers to suspected terrorists and allowed the attorney general to detain aliens without charge or recourse to due process. 2002 Homeland Security Act Consolidated 22 federal departments and agencies into the new Department of Homeland Security. This act moved many federal agencies that were responsible for immigration enforcement under the department's purview and restructured them as Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Citizenship and Immigration Services. 2002 Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act 2004 Visa Reform Act Provided 20,000 additional H-1B visas to high-skilled temporary workers with advanced degrees from American universities 2006 Secure Fence Act These laws reaffirmed the government’s power to detain immigrants without trial, authorized about 850 miles of fencing along the southwest border, and expanded the size of the Border Patrol. New control systems due to 9/11 Automated Biometric Identification System Student and Exchange Visitor Information System Electronic System for Travel Authorization 2007 The Pew Research Center estimated that the illegal immigration population peaked at 12.2 million in 2007, and the issue moved to the forefront of the 2008 presidential election. 2009 Failed DREAM Act 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), which granted a two- year work permit and a reprieve from deportation to illegal immigrants who met many of the latest DREAM Act requirements. Obama continued to support comprehensive immigration reform and the targeted deportation of illegal immigrants. Obama's administration removed more illegal immigrants than any other administration, earning him the nickname "Deporter-in-Chief." Obama removed 1,242,486 illegal immigrants from the interior of the United States during his full eight years, averaging 155,311 removals per year. 2014 Immigration Accountability Executive Action - granted three years of temporary revocable relief and work authorization to four to five million illegal immigrants by expanding DACA to cover the parents of U.S. citizens. The courts blocked Obama's executive action in late 2014. 2016 The illegal population receded to 10.7 million, and in 2016 there were 17,000 Border Patrol agents and 654 miles of primary fencing on the southwest border. During the 2016 presidential elections, immigration became a focal point. 2016 In 2016, the percentage of diversity visas issued to European countries fell to 24 percent, while the percentage of diversity visas issued to Africans and Asians increased to 40 percent and 31 percent, respectively. 2016-2020 There was little congressional action on immigration under the Trump administration, but various federal agencies utilized the regulatory state in order to reduce legal immigration. The Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security have attempted to expand immigration enforcement both in the interior of the United States and along the border. Similarly, the Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a final rule that altered the public charge grounds of inadmissibility, which could substantially reduce the number of new green cards issued. COVID-19 Pandemic In April 2020, Trump practically ended the issuance of green cards to people abroad, which usually accounts for about half of new green cards issued annually. In the last six months of the 2020 fiscal year (April to September), the federal government only issued about 29,000 green cards. During the same period in 2016, it had issued approximately 309,000 green cards. Trump greatly reduced the issuance of nonimmigrant visas (NIVs) in response to the recession and the COVID-19 pandemic (Figure 5). In the last six months of the 2020 fiscal year (April to September), the federal government issued 397,596 NIVs. In the same period in 2016 during Obama's last full year in office, it issued more than 5.6 million NIVs. Under the Refugee Act of 1980, the president sets worldwide and regional refugee numbers. Every year, Trump cut the numbers and refugee admissions fell. Trump’s control over legal immigration and the reduced number of refugee admissions exposed just how much power the executive branch of government has over immigration. Congress has given an enormous amount of power to the president to set immigration policy. The biggest institutional change in immigration policy is that Congress' importance is shrinking while the executive branch’s power is growing. CONCLUSION Relative to a system that prioritizes eco- nomic contributions and creates pathways for immigrants to work in the United States legally, the current system con- strains economic growth... Although regulatory changes can generate meaningful improvements to the United States immigration system, congressional reform is likely necessary to replace the patchwork of current immigration policies with a coherent system that channels the constructive pow- ers of immigration rather than disrupting them.