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The Hidden Dimension Of Nineteenth-Century Immigration Law, Kerry Abrams

Vanderbilt Law Review

Most histories of immigration law are histories of restriction. This emphasis is hardly surprising: beginning in 1875, Congress passed increasingly draconian acts, mostly targeting Chinese immigrants, which ultimately led to the outright exclusion of nearly all Asian immigrants. Then, in the 1920s, Congress enacted quotas aimed at keeping the U.S. population primarily white, with an emphasis on immigrants from northern and western European stock. And throughout history in general, immigration law has focused not only on excluding but also on deporting those immigrants deemed undesirable.

In addition to focusing on exclusion, immigration law history has also been preoccupied with federal …