Once upon a time the USA tried a quota system for immigration. It was labelled eugenic, racist and religio-xenophobic.
National origins quota
The Immigration Act made permanent the basic limitations on immigration into the United States established in 1921 and modified the
National Origins Formula then. In conjunction with the
Immigration Act of 1917, it governed American immigration policy until 1952 (see the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952).
For the next 3 years, until June 30, 1927, it set the annual quota of any nationality at 2% of the number of foreign-born persons of such nationality resident in the United States in 1890. That revised formula reduced total immigration from 357,803 in 1923-24 to 164,667 in 1924-25. The law's impact varied widely by country. Immigration from Great Britain and Ireland fell 19%, while immigration from Italy fell more than 90%.
[4]
The Act provided that beginning July 1, 1927 the formula would no longer use a percentage. As of that date, total immigration would be limited to 150,000, with the proportion of the total admitted from any country based on that country's representation in the U.S. population according to the 1920 Census.
The change from 2% to 150,000 planned for 1927 was later postponed to July 1, 1929.
The Act established preferences under the quota system for certain relatives of U.S. residents, including their unmarried children under 21, their parents, their for spouses aged 21 and over It also preferred immigrants aged 21 and over who were skilled in agriculture, as well as their wives and dependent children under age 16.
Non-quota status was accorded to: wives and unmarried children under 18 of U.S. citizens; natives of Western Hemisphere countries, with their families; non-immigrants; and certain others. Subsequent amendments eliminated certain elements of this law's inherent discrimination against women.
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 accomplished a comprehensive revision of the Act.
The 1924 law established the "consular control system" of immigration by mandating that no alien may be permitted entrance to the United States without an unexpired immigration visa issued by an American
consular officer abroad. Thus, the State Department and the
Immigration and Naturalization Service shared responsibility immigration.
It introduced the provision that, as a rule, no alien ineligible to become a citizen shall be admitted to the United States as an immigrant. This was aimed primarily at Japanese and Chinese aliens.
It imposed fines on transportation companies who landed aliens in violation of U.S. Immigration laws.
It defined the term "
immigrant" and designated all other alien entries into the United States as "non-immigrant", that is, temporary visitor. It established classes of admission for non-immigrants.
[edit] Purpose of the act
Proponents of the Act sought to establish a distinct
American identity by favoring native-born Americans over Southern Europeans in order to "maintain the racial preponderance of the basic strain on our people and thereby to stabilize the ethnic composition of the population".
[5] Reed told the Senate that earlier legislation "disregards entirely those of us who are interested in keeping American stock up to the highest standard-that is, the people who were born here."
[6] Southern and Eastern Europeans, he believed, arrive sick and starving and therefore less capable of contributing to the American economy, and unable to adapt to American culture.
[5]
[edit] Results
Relative proportions of immigrants from Northwestern Europe (red) and Southern and Eastern Europe (blue) in the decades before and after the immigration restriction legislation.
The Act halted "undesirable" immigration by quotas. The Act barred specific origins from the Asia-Pacific Triangle, which included
Japan,
China, the
Philippines (then under U.S. control),
Siam (
Thailand),
French Indochina (
Laos,
Vietnam, and
Cambodia),
Singapore (then a British colony),
Korea,
Dutch East Indies (
Indonesia),
Burma (Myanmar),
India,
Ceylon (
Sri Lanka) and
Malaysia.
[7] Based on the
Naturalization Act of 1790, these immigrants, being non-white, were not eligible for naturalization, and the Act forbade further immigration of any persons ineligible to be naturalized.
[7]
In the 10 years following 1900, about 200,000
Italians immigrated annually. With the imposition of the 1924 quota, 4,000 per year were allowed. At the same time, the annual quota for
Germany was over 57,000. 86% of the 155,000 permitted entries were from Northern European countries, with
Germany,
Britain, and
Ireland having the highest quotas.
The Act set no limits on immigration from the
Latin American countries.
The quotas remained in place with minor alterations until the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.
