Laws limiting Immigration to the US before 1917

1865: Individual states began imposing immigration restrictions after the Civil War.

1882: Chinese Exclusion Act imposed a 10-year ban on immigration from China.

1882 Immigration Act: excluded 'persons likely to become a public charge'.

1885: the Alien Contract Labor law prohibited the immigration of unskilled workers under contract; strengthened in 1887 and 1888.

1891 Immigration Act: added to the inadmissible classes: persons with contagious disease, felons, criminals, polygamists, people who had not paid their own passage.

1893 Immigration Act: added illiteracy, penury and mental health to the grounds for exclusion.

1903 Immigration Act: added anarchists, and anyone who became a public charge within two years after arrival.

1907 Immigration Act: added imbeciles & feeble-minded persons, persons with physical or mental disabilities, unaccompanied children, prostitutes and 'immoral turpitude'.