Summary of Major Postwar Immigration Laws

Immigration and Nationality Act of June 27, 1952 (INA) (66 Statutes-at-Large 163)

Brought into one comprehensive statute the multiple laws which, before its enactment, governed immigration and naturalization in the United States. In general, perpetuated the immigration policies from earlier statutes with the following significant modifications:

  1. Made all races eligible for naturalization, thus eliminating race as a bar to immigration.
  2. Eliminated discrimination between sexes with respect to immigration.
  3. Revised the national origins quota system of the Immigration Act of 1924 by changing the national origins quota formula: set the annual quota for an area at one-sixth of one percent of the number of inhabitants in the continental United States in 1920 whose ancestry or national origin was attributable to that area. All countries were allowed a minimum quota of 100, with a ceiling of 2,000 on most natives of countries in the Asia-Pacific triangle, which broadly encompassed the Asian countries.
  4. Introduced a system of selected immigration by giving a quota preference to skilled aliens whose services are urgently needed in the United States and to relatives of U.S. citizens and aliens.
  5. Placed a limit on the use of the governing country’s quota by natives of colonies and dependent areas.
  6. Provided an “escape clause” permitting the immigration of certain former voluntary members of proscribed organizations.
  7. Broadened the grounds for exclusion and deportation of aliens.
  8. Provided procedures for the adjustment of status of nonimmigrant aliens to that of permanent resident aliens.
  9. Modified and added significantly to the existing classes of nonimmigrant admission.
  10. Afforded greater procedural safeguards to aliens subject to deportation.
  11. Introduced the alien address report system whereby all aliens in the United States (including most temporary visitors) were required annually to report their current address to the INS.
  12. Established a central index of all aliens in the United States for use by security and enforcement agencies.
  13. Repealed the ban on contract labor (see Act of March 30, 1868) but added other qualitative exclusions.

Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of October 3, 1965 (79 Statutes-at-Large 911)

Provisions:

a. Abolished the national origins quota system (see the Immigration Act of 1924 and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952), eliminating national origin, race, or ancestry as a basis for immigration to the United States.

b. Established allocation of immigrant visas on a first come, first served basis, subject to a seven-category preference system for relatives of U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens (for the reunification of families) and for persons with special occupational skills, abilities, or training (needed in the United States).

c. Established two categories of immigrants not subject to numerical restrictions:

1. Immediate relatives (spouses, children, parents) of U.S. citizens, and

2. Special immigrants: certain ministers of religion; certain former employees of the U.S. government abroad; certain persons who lost citizenship (e.g., by marriage or by service in foreign armed forces); and certain foreign medical graduates.

d. Maintained the principle of numerical restriction, expanding limits to world coverage by limiting Eastern Hemisphere immigration to 170,000 and placing a ceiling on Western Hemisphere immigration (120,000) for the first time. However, neither the preference categories nor the 20,000 per-country limit were applied to the Western Hemisphere.

e. Introduced a prerequisite for the issuance of a visa of an affirmative finding by the Secretary of Labor that an alien seeking to enter as a worker will not replace a worker in the United States nor adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed individuals in the United States.

Immigration Reform and Control Act of November 6, 1986 (IRCA) (100 Statutes-at-Large 3359)

Comprehensive immigration legislation:

a. Authorized legalization (i.e., temporary and then permanent resident status) for aliens who had resided in the United States in an unlawful status since January 1, 1982 (entering illegally or as temporary visitors with authorized stay expiring before that date or with the Government’s knowledge of their unlawful status before that date) and are not excludable.

b. Created sanctions prohibiting employers from knowingly hiring, recruiting, or referring for a fee aliens not authorized to work in the United States.

c. Increased enforcement at U.S. borders.

d. Created a new classification of seasonal agricultural worker and provisions for the legalization of certain such workers.

e. Extended the registry date (i.e., the date from which an alien has resided illegally and continuously in the United States and thus qualifies for adjustment to permanent resident status) from June 30, 1948 to January 1, 1972.

f. Authorized adjustment to permanent resident status for Cubans and Haitians who entered the United States without inspection and had continuously resided in country since January 1, 1982.

g. Increased the numerical limitation for immigrants admitted under the preference system for dependent areas from 600 to 5,000 beginning in fiscal year 1988.

h. Created a new special immigrant category for certain retired employees of international organizations and their families and a new nonimmigrant status for parents and children of such immigrants.

i. Created a nonimmigrant Visa Waiver Pilot program allowing certain aliens to visit the United States without applying for a nonimmigrant visa.

j. Allocated 5,000 nonpreference visas in each of fiscal years 1987 and 1988 for aliens born in countries from which immigration was adversely affected by the 1965 act.

Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of September 30, 1996 (110 Statutes-at-Large 3009)

Provisions:

  1. Established measures to control U.S. borders, protect legal workers through worksite enforcement, and remove criminal and other deportable aliens:
    1. Increased border personnel, equipment, and technology as well as enforcement personnel at land and air ports of entry;
    2. Authorized improvements in barriers along the Southwest border;
    3. Increased anti-smuggling authority and penalties for alien smuggling;
    4. Increased penalties for illegal entry, passport and visa fraud, and failure to depart;
    5. Increased INS investigators for worksite enforcement, alien smuggling, and visa overstayers;
    6. Established three voluntary pilot programs to confirm the employment eligibility of workers and reduced the number and types of documents that may be presented to employers for identity and eligibility to work;
    7. Broadly reformed exclusion and deportation procedures, including consolidation into a single removal process as well as the institution of expedited removal to speed deportation and alien exclusion through more stringent grounds of admissibility;
    8. Increased detention space for criminal and other deportable aliens;
    9. Instituted 3- and 10-year bars to admissibility for aliens seeking to reenter after having been unlawfully present in the United States;
    10. Barred re-entry of individuals who renounced their U.S. citizenship in order to avoid U.S. tax obligations.
  2. Placed added restrictions on benefits for aliens:
    1. Provided for a pilot program on limiting issuance of driver's licenses to illegal aliens;
    2. Declared aliens not lawfully present ineligible for Social Security benefits;
    3. Established procedures for requiring proof of citizenship for Federal public benefits;
    4. Established limitations on eligibility for preferential treatment of aliens not lawfully present on the basis of residence for higher education benefits;
    5. Provided for verification of immigration status for purposes of Social Security and higher educational assistance;
    6. Tightened the requirement for an affidavit of support for sponsored immigrants, making the affidavit a legally binding contract to provide financial support;
    7. Provided authority of States and political subdivisions of States to limit assistance to aliens in providing general cash public assistance;
    8. Increased maximum criminal penalties for forging or counterfeiting the seal of a Federal department or agency to facilitate benefit fraud by an unlawful alien.
  3. Miscellaneous provisions:
    1. Recodified existing INS regulations regarding asylum;
    2. Provided that the Attorney General's parole authority may be exercised only on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public health.
    3. Created new limits on the ability of F-1 students to attend public schools without reimbursing those institutions;
    4. Established new mandates for educational institutions to collect information on foreign students' status and nationality and provide it to INS;
    5. Tightened restrictions regarding foreign physicians' ability to work in the United States;
    6. Added new consular processing provisions and revised the visa waiver program.

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