History of America’s Immigration: The Background to Today’s Border and Asylum Crises

History of America’s Immigration: The Background to Today’s Border and Asylum Crises

Dr. Harry Stein

A cartoon of a person pouring liquid into a pot AI-generated content may be incorrect.A cartoon of a person sitting on a bench AI-generated content may be incorrect.  
Defining American: The Bureau of Naturalization’s Attempt to Standardize Citizenship Education and Inculcate ‘the Soul of America’ in Immigrants during World War 1  In this wood engraving caricaturing the Chinese Exclusion Act, a well-dress Chinese man embodying “Order” and “Industry” sits outside the Golden Gate of Liberty. The sign to his right declares “Communists, Nihilist, Socialist, Fenian & Hoodlum Welcome but no Admittance to Chinamen.”

Four Eras of U.S. Immigration History

The following is a description with vocabulary for each era. Following the four eras is a collection of data that students can use to learn more about each time period. In each era examine who came to the United States, why, and how did government policy favored or discouraged immigration.

Era #1: Populating the Continent-Colonial to 1875

Authority was with individual states, not the Federal Government. States used what was then called “state police power” to set and enforce rules. States set rules stopping the admission of convicts, free Blacks, paupers, diseased, sick or disabled persons or passengers on ships who tried to enter without the captain posting a bond on their behalf. No free person whether black, mulatto, or colored from a Caribbean country, especially Haiti, could enter some states. Haitian seamen on a ship entering Charleston, S.C., could not leave the ship. These powers were confirmed by a Supreme Court decision (Miln Decision, 1837) and the Passenger Cases decision (1849) approved state laws on bonding and taxing incoming passengers. The 1830 Indian Removal Act was another example of state police power. The movement of free Blacks within Missouri and Ohio was also regulated.

There were also federal laws in 1793, 1842 (Prigg decision), and 1850 concerning the return of runaway slaves to their owners. Legislation in 1809 prevented the importing of additional slaves from west Africa. In 1817 the Liberia colony was established and federally funded for free Black who wished to return to Africa. 13,000 did.

Federal laws permitting or excluding contract labor from China and Europe were enacted. In 1862 the Coolie importation from China was stopped under the logic that since slavery was illegal in northern states and Coolies were slaves therefore, they could not get into the USA. In 1867 contract labor was permitted from Europe. In conclusion, high, consistent demand for labor led to favorable State and federal immigration policies.

Critical terms: Era #1

Era #2: Opening and Closing the Immigration Doors, 1875 – 1924

During this era, the power to legislate and enforce laws came totally to the national government. Immigration power resided in the Federal government’s ability to control commerce, Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) and the theory of national sovereignty critical for national security through border control. Between 1871 and 1914, 23.5 million Europeans entered. Eastern and southern Europeans joined those from Ireland, the U.K. and northern Europe. 1.7 million entered in 1907.

The country was industrializing and urbanizing. Labor demand was high. But gradually laws were established excluding some and regulating the entry of others. Many Americans wanted more immigration. Other Americans were critical of who were admitted. By 1924 the doors were almost closed to many Jews, Catholics, Hindus, and Chinese. See the Page Act (1875) and the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882). Research the Foran Act (1885) and the Dillingham Commission (1911).

A 1917 law aimed at South Asians, Indians, who settled in California and Washington and spoke out against British control of their homeland. This was part of a broader American nativist movement merging with white supremacy ideology, anti-communism and earlier opposition to immigrants with physical or mental disabilities. A literacy test was passed. A “barred” zone was created stopping all Asian entry except from the Philippines and Japan, already excluded by an informal 1907 “Gentlemen’s Agreement.” Mexicans were turned into temporary labor migrants. There was also the fear that if the US entered the League of Nations this could endanger national security. In 1920, 16% of the US population was foreign born. Bad foreigners = crime, immorality, and labor conflict.

A 1921 law closed loopholes in the 1917 law and established the first national origin quotas. This law fused beliefs about eugenics, racial bigotry, anti-disabilities prejudice, mixed racial marriages into a category of undesirable immigrant groups. The Johnson-Reed Act (1924) created quotas by ethnic origin. The Border Patrol created an illegal entry called a misdemeanor and felony (1929) if done twice.

Critical Terms: Era #2

Era #3: The Closed Door, 1925-1965

The Johnson-Reed Act (1924) confined immigration mainly to northern Europe. National quotas were based on ethnic origins of the 1890 census. Through the Depression of the 1930s and World War II, immigration was severely curtailed. Following World War II, the law remained intact and parallel laws dealing with World War II refugees were created that bypassed but did not displace the 1925 Law.

In 1948, Congress passed the Displaced Persons Act permitting European refugees to enter. In 1948 the law was amended permitting refugees from camps in western Germany who could not return to their former homes in Poland and the USSR to enter the USA. 332,000 arrived including 141,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors between June 1948 and December 1951.

Critical Terms: Era #3

Era #4: Broader Opening of the Doors, 1965 – Present

The 1925 law was replaced by the Hart/Cellar Act of 1965. Racial and ethnic quotas were eliminated. Numerical quotas were retained. Entrance was open to people from anywhere. The law favored family unification, preference for specific occupations, and a new side variety of visas. In 1950, the USA was 90% white with a European origin. By 2000, 50% of new immigrants were from Latin America and 27% from Asia. In 2020, the USA population was 69% European white. This law changed the racial composition and, some say, the national identity of the USA. The acrid, hot odor of 1924 bigotry and nativism returned magnified and channeled through social media. By 2020, some Americans were talking of white racial suicide and replacement theory. Politicians pointed to the loss of border control. The 9/11 Attack on America led to Islamophobia and Muslin immigration bans. Many Americans supported legal immigration and the use of work visas for both unskilled and professional work. Most wanted to stop migration but the government system to judge asylum claims became broken. Since May 2022, a 1.85 million undocumented refugees have been permitted to remain in the country following a favorable “credible fear” claim. By September 2022, 86,815 immigrants were deported and 1.7 million were approved to stay. 200,149 immigrants came to New York City.

More Data:

  • From February 2021 to September 2023, Border Patrol arrested 6 million migrants who crossed the border illegally.
  • 1.7 million immigrants were released to stay in the USA.
  • There were about 1,500 immigration judges and asylum officers available to decide these immigrant cases.
  • People apply for asylum at the border or if they are caught illegally in the country or overstay a visa. They have up to one year to apply. 800,000 applied in 2022.
  • It could cost $2 billion to hire more staff to eliminate the 2 million backlog of cases.
  • In some cities, it will take up to ten years to hear a case.
  • 1.3 million have been told they must leave the USA. They have 90 days to do so.
  • Many do not leave and they disappear. There is no national ID in the United States to identify them.
  • Some marry Americans and become parents of children who are natural born citizens.
  • All of this data is used by politicians running for federal office. Some promise to clear them ‘out.’ How they will do this is not clear.
  • Many local officials run to Washington, D.C., seeking money to care for migrants in their cities. There is a deadlock in Washington, D.C. Many do not want to tax the many to pay for the foreign immigrants. The memory of 1924 is in the air and a chaotic border has become a drug channel.

Critical Terms: Era #4

  • Pyler Supreme Court Case, 1982
  • Temporary Protective Status
  • Humanitarian parole
  • Refugee Act, 1980
  • DACA
  • Visa Lottery System
  • John Tanton
  • Naturalization

Our laws were not designed to deal with BOTH old and new reasons for migrations. The latest reasons are climate change, corruption in many countries, and the development of the smartphone, which immediately connected migrants with friends already in the USA who send money to assist migrants in their journey. Migration used to be single men seeking jobs who would then return home. Now, it is entire families seeking a new life in the USA. Many Americans do not know what to make of it and they will vote their hopes and fears.

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