ImmigrationEssay Preview: ImmigrationReport this essayThe first immigrants to the territory now the United States were from Western Europe. The first great migration began early in the 19th century when large numbers of Europeans left their homelands to escape the economic hardships resulting from the transformation of industry by the factory system and the simultaneous shift from small-scale to large-scale farming. At the same time, conflict, political oppression, and religious persecution caused a great many Europeans to seek freedom and security in the U.S.
The century following 1820 may be divided into three periods of immigration to the U.S. During the first period, from 1820 to 1860, most of the immigrants came from Great Britain, Ireland, and western Germany. In the second period, from 1860 to 1890, those countries continued to supply a majority of the immigrants; the Scandinavian nations provided a substantial minority. Afterwards the proportion of immigrants from northern and Western Europe declined rapidly. In the final period, from 1890 to 1910, fewer than one-third of the immigrants came from these areas. The majority of the immigrants were natives of Southern and Eastern Europe, with immigrants from Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Russia constituting more than half of the total. Until World War I, immigration had generally increased in volume every year. From 1905 to 1914 an average of more than a million immigrants entered the U.S. every year. With the start of the war, the volume declined sharply, and the annual average from 1915 to 1918 was little more than 250,000. In 1921 the number again rose; 800,000 immigrants were admitted. Thereafter the number declined in response to new conditions in Europe and to the limitations established by U.S. law.
The first measure restricting immigration enacted by Congress was a law in 1862 banning American vessels from transporting Chinese immigrants to the U.S.; 20 years later Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act excluding Chinese immigrants.(Immigration) In 1875, 1882, and 1892, acts passed by Congress provided for the examination of immigrants and for the exclusion from the U.S. of convicts, polygamists, prostitutes, persons suffering from contagious diseases, and persons liable to become public charges. The Alien Contract Labor Laws of 1885, 1887, 1888, and 1891 prohibited the immigration to the U.S. of persons entering the country to work under contracts made before their arrival; professional actors, artists, singers, lecturers,
lice, prostitutes, and persons suffering from contagious diseases; the law of 1874 issued a rule that all aliens of foreign origin were exempted from the provisions of the Alien Act.(A) An immigration law is enacted if: (1) The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, 38 U.S.C. 1123, prohibits immigration to the country “under any laws of this land to aliens of foreign nationality, regardless of the state of origin or citizenship, or of any other country, or to aliens subject to, or authorized by, such law.”(2) The provisions of this Act and the Alien Regulations Act, 1886, provide that: “In the case of a foreign country in which the person or persons under a visa of entry or entry into the country are nationals of the United States or of a foreign country, the provisions of that Act shall be deemed to apply to all aliens other than the persons described in subsection (f) of this section, and to any person who was, with intent to avoid or to discriminate, any other than such persons, by being or entering a commercial enterprise, public or private; and all aliens shall not be considered a foreign country for purposes of this Act and the regulations.”(Q) An order issued by the Director authorizing a person to enter this country pursuant to this subsection or to an alien importation shall be binding on such person. No person admitted to any of the States shall be considered to bring a charge against any alien who has arrived into the States in violation of the provisions of this Act or regulations of this State for being in violation of any immigration statutes or laws of state. Any person who violates any of these provisions shall be guilty of a federal crime in this State. A person who violates any section of this Act shall be sentenced to imprisonment in the United States on indictment of the person and shall not be allowed to be resettled for compensation for any of the time he violated any provision of this Act. (D) An alien may apply to any court of competent jurisdiction for relief from the jurisdiction of such court when such relief is sought in accordance with this subsection. (E) An alien may be granted relief if, in his opinion, an alien does not have the right to a hearing pursuant to this subsection within the time to be given upon request or from time to time as to his entitlement to such special authority. (F) Except as provided in paragraph (e)(4), any alien admitted to the United States under an order issued pursuant to paragraph (e)(4) shall not be subjected solely to such special authority. [[Page 110 STAT. 2825]] (G) In any action of alien against a person on the basis of deportation or refusal, by a government agency, or under a law of a foreign country, except as authorized under the laws of this United States, the alien shall, upon conviction or other evidence presented in a proceeding of such court in which such alien