HOW XENOPHOBIA AND RACISM HAVE DICTATED U.S. IMMIGRATION POLICY

History

1903: The Anarchist Exclusion Act was passed. The legislation regulated immigration, banning not only perceived anarchists but also “people with epilepsy, beggars and importers of prostitutes.

1906: President Theodore Roosevelt signed the 1906 Naturalization Act, which required that immigrants learn English in order to become eligible to be a naturalized U.S. citizen.