IMMIGRATION LAWSChanges.....

Think, Pair, Share! Imagine you are in charge of

immigration control at Ellis Island in New York.

You want your employees to know the difference between ‘old’ and ‘new’ immigrants.

Come up with a definition for each type of immigrant

What will we learn today? The changes that occurred in

immigration law When the changes happened What impact the changes had

Before..... “Give me

your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free....”

Immigrant Stories

Policy of “Freedom of Entry” Some exceptions...

No alcoholics No lunatics No convicts No anarchists - ? Pay a tax on entry

1882 Federal Immigration Act

Developments before 1917 1884 – Immigration Restriction League –

USA in danger of being swamped by ‘lesser breeds’

Campaigned for literacy test – why? 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act – Chinese

immigration illegal 1907 ‘Gentlemen’s Agreement’ gave

the USA the right to exclude Japanese immigrants (finally banned completely in 1924)

Immigration Act of 1917 Passed by Congress

despite President Wilson’s veto

Must pass a literacy test showing you can read and write.

Increased the entry tax to $8 a head

‘Barred zone’ – forbidding immigration from most of Asia

Some stats! 1850 to 1914 – 35 million immigrants June 1919 to June 1921 – 800,000

entered USA (65% from Southern and Eastern Europe)

News from Europe was that millions more were preparing to leave

Ellis Island was so jammed that ships full of immigrants were being diverted to Boston

The Quota Acts A series of laws introduced during the

1920s to seriously reduce the numbers of immigrants entering the USA.

1921 Emergency Quota Act

Established quotas based on nationality. This was aimed at reducing immigrants from

eastern and central Europe – how does this work????

The formula is as follows; The number of people admitted from one country =

No more than 3% of all the emigrants from that country who were already resident in the USA in 1910

Example Italian emigrants number 4, 074 000 in 1910 – how

many would be allowed to enter the USA in one year?

ANSWER? 122,220

Result? Only about 350,000 immigrants could enter

the USA each year Large numbers of people from ‘undesirable’

countries kept out Favoured people from Britain and Ireland,

Germany, Holland, Switzerland and Scandinavia

Few from Southern Europe Most new immigrants after 1921 were WHITE &

PROTESTANT

1924 National Origins Act Sometimes known as Johnson-Reed Act Reduced the quota to 2% Took the basis for measurement back to

the 1890 census – why?

By 1929.... Foreign immigration reduced to 150,000 p.a. Mass immigration was ended 85% of all places were reserved for

immigrants from northern and western Europe Immigration from Asia stopped almost entirely Immigration from Southern and Eastern

Europe was very difficult

For you to do..... Continue with the written tasks on the

sheet you started last day.