Everything about The Immigration Act Of 1924 totally explained
The
Immigration Act of 1924, or
Johnson-Reed Act, including the
National Origins Act,
Asian Exclusion Act,
(43 Statutes-at-Large 153) was a
United States federal law that limited the number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the
United States in 1890, according to the
Census of 1890. It excluded immigration of Asians. It superseded the 1921
Emergency Quota Act. The law was aimed at further restricting the
Southern and
Eastern Europeans who were immigrating in large numbers starting in the
1890s, as well as prohibiting the immigration of
East Asians and
Asian Indians.
Congressman Albert Johnson and
Senator David Reed were the two main architects. In the wake of intense lobbying, the Act passed with strong congressional support. There were six dissenting votes in the
Senate and a handful of opponents in the
House, the most vigorous of whom was freshman
Brooklyn Representative
Emanuel Celler. Over the succeeding four decades, Celler made the repeal of the Act into a personal crusade. Some of the law's strongest supporters were influenced by
Madison Grant and his 1916 book,
The Passing of the Great Race. Grant was a
eugenicist and an advocate of the
racial hygiene theory. His data purported to show the superiority of the founding
Northern European races. But most proponents of the law were rather concerned with upholding an ethnic status quo and avoiding competition with foreign workers. For the acts quotas on
Roman Catholic countries, the law was championed by the
Christian Right.
The act was strongly supported by well-known union leader and founder of the
AFL,
Samuel Gompers. Gompers was a Jewish immigrant, and uninterested in the accusations by many Jews that the quotas were based on anti-Semitism.
National origins quota
National Origins Quota of 1924 according to the Immigration Act, was
the first permanent limitation on immigration into the
United States, established the “national origins quota system.” In conjunction with the Immigration Act of 1917, governed American immigration policy until
1952 (see the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952).
It contained two quota provisions:
In effect until
June 30,
1927—set the annual quota of any quota nationality at two percent of the number of foreign-born persons of such nationality resident in the continental United States in 1890 (total quota - 164,667).
From July 1, 1927 (later postponed to
July 1,
1929) to December 31, 1952—used the national origins quota system: the annual quota for any country or nationality had the same relation to 150,000 as the number of inhabitants in the continental United States in 1920 having that national origin had to the total number of inhabitants in the continental United States in 1920.
Preference quota status was established for unmarried children under 21; for parents; for spouses of U.S. citizens aged 21 and over; and for quota immigrants aged 21 and over who are skilled in agriculture, together with their wives and dependent children under age 16.
Nonquota status was accorded to: wives and unmarried children under 18 of U.S. citizens; natives of Western Hemisphere countries, with their families; nonimmigrants; and certain others. Subsequent amendments eliminated certain elements of this law’s inherent discrimination against women but comprehensive elimination wasn't achieved until 1952 (see the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952).
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 control of immigration.
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 aliens.
Imposed fines on transportation companies who landed aliens in violation of U.S. Immigration laws.
Defined the term “
immigrant” and designated all other alien entries into the United States as “nonimmigrant” (temporary visitor). Established classes of admission for nonimmigrant entries.
Results
The Act halted "undesirable" immigration by quotas. The Act barred specific origins from the Asia-Pacific Triangle, which included Japan, China, the Philippines, Laos, Siam (Thailand), Cambodia, Singapore (then a British colony), Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Burma (Myanmar), India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Turkey, and Malaysia.
In the ten 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 165,000 permitted entries were from Northern European countries, with
Germany,
Britain, and
Ireland with the highest quotas.
The Act set no limits on immigration from
Latin America.
The quotas remained in place with minor alterations until the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.
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