1. Chinese Exclusion Act
1882
U.S. Gov’t passed the only immigration law ever that targeted one specific nationality
Why the Chinese?
Race
Culture
Competition
Nativism
protecting the interests of native inhabitants against those of immigrants

2. Chinese Exclusion Act So what did it say?
Suspended the immigration of Chinese laborers into U.S. for 10 years
Chinese who had been in U.S. before November 17, 1880 could stay, travel abroad, and return
Prohibited naturalization of Chinese
Any non-laborer Chinese immigrant (teachers, students & travelers for example) had to get a certificate from the Chinese gov’t stating that they were non-laborers
It became extremely difficult for any Chinese immigrants to come over to the U.S.

3. 10 Years Is Up 1892 hits… what do you think happened?
Good Ole’ extension
Geary Act  tacked on another 10 years of restricted immigration
Also, required Chinese residents of the U.S. to get certificates stating that they were in fact residents
Failure to do so = deportation
Denied bail in habeas corpus cases (head before a judge/court)

4. Exclusion Act Repealed
1943
Exclusion Act/Geary Act repealed & replaced by a yearly immigrant quota
For Chinese it was 105 (this # was calculated as a % of the total pop. of Chinese people living in U.S.)
Also, Chinese immigrants could become naturalized
1965
New immigration act that would put the yearly quota to 170,000 w/ no more than 20,000 from each country

5. Immigration Today
Annual legal immigrant cap is b/w 700, ,000 (depending on refugees)
Still about 12,000,000 undocumented immigrants in the U.S.
INS  USCIS  DHS
Immigration & Naturalization Service became U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services, which is now under the Department of Homeland Security