1880s: The "new 1mmigrants" who came from eastern and southern Europe in the 1880s are considered a potential threat to the "American" character. For the first time, in 1882, Congress acts to restrict immigration on a selective bas1s, although standards are not very stringent. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 puts an end to the 1mportation of cheap Chinese labor which had caused some ugly racial riots in the West

Post World War I: Congress passes the Immigration Act of 1924; it institutes a quota system based on the U.S. population in 1920 and was an overt attempt to keep the country's ethnic "composition" what it had been-that 1S, predominantly Northern European.

Today: The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 gave legal status to millions of Illegal aliens living in the U.S. Since January 1982 and established penalties for anyone found hiring Illegal aliens. Immigration preferences...