Hot Button Issue #4

Assertion:  My great-grandparents (or grandparents) came legally -- why can't these new immigrants?

Response:  They may have come legally at the time, but there might not have been laws governing immigration at the time. 

During the 19th century there was virtually no regulation of immigrants in this country.  If someone could get here, he/she would be let in.  Unless one fell into any exclusion category, for example, the "Chinese Exclusion Act of  1882," or were considered insane, he or she would be allowed to enter and remain.  Furthermore, before the 20th century, there was no agency or bureaucracy to enforce immigration laws. 

In 1924 the law set up a consular system that required prospective immigrants to obtain a visa from a U.S. consulate abroad before coming to the USA.  Once exclusions and restrictions were placed on immigration to the US, illegal immigration began.  Laws designed to keep out less desirable groups, such as Eastern and Southern Europeans increased the number of undocumented immigrants.

A 1929 law, the Registry Act, allowed law-abiding aliens who might be in the US under some merely "technical irregularity" to register as permenant residents for a fee of $20.00 if they could prove they had lived in the United States since 1921 and were of good moral character.

Between 1925 and 1965, 200,000 undocumented Europeans legalized their status under the law.