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:
-
Made all races eligible
for naturalization, thus eliminating race as a bar to immigration.
-
Eliminated discrimination
between sexes with respect to immigration.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Placed a limit on the use
of the governing country’s quota by natives of colonies and dependent areas.
-
Provided an “escape
clause” permitting the immigration of certain former voluntary members of
proscribed organizations.
-
Broadened the grounds for
exclusion and deportation of aliens.
-
Provided procedures for
the adjustment of status of nonimmigrant aliens to that of permanent resident
aliens.
-
Modified and added
significantly to the existing classes of nonimmigrant admission.
-
Afforded greater
procedural safeguards to aliens subject to deportation.
-
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.
-
Established a central
index of all aliens in the
United States
for use by security and enforcement agencies.
-
Repealed the ban on contract labor (see Act of March 30, 1868)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:
-
Established measures to
control U.S.
borders, protect legal workers through worksite enforcement, and remove
criminal and other deportable aliens:
-
Increased border personnel, equipment, and technology as well as enforcement
personnel at land and air ports of entry;
-
Authorized improvements in barriers along the Southwest border;
-
Increased anti-smuggling authority and penalties for alien smuggling;
-
Increased penalties for illegal entry, passport and visa fraud, and failure
to depart;
-
Increased INS investigators for worksite enforcement, alien smuggling, and
visa overstayers;
-
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;
-
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;
-
Increased detention space for criminal and other deportable aliens;
-
Instituted 3- and 10-year bars to admissibility for aliens seeking to
reenter after having been unlawfully present in the United States;
-
Barred re-entry of
individuals who renounced their
U.S.
citizenship in order to avoid
U.S.
tax obligations.
-
Placed added restrictions
on benefits for aliens:
-
Provided for a pilot program on limiting issuance of driver's licenses to
illegal aliens;
-
Declared aliens not lawfully present ineligible for Social Security
benefits;
-
Established procedures for requiring proof of citizenship for Federal public
benefits;
-
Established limitations on eligibility for preferential treatment of aliens
not lawfully present on the basis of residence for higher education
benefits;
-
Provided for verification of immigration status for purposes of Social
Security and higher educational assistance;
-
Tightened the requirement for an affidavit of support for sponsored
immigrants, making the affidavit a legally binding contract to provide
financial support;
-
Provided authority of States and political subdivisions of States to limit
assistance to aliens in providing general cash public assistance;
-
Increased maximum
criminal penalties for forging or counterfeiting the seal of a Federal
department or agency to facilitate benefit fraud by an unlawful alien.
-
Miscellaneous provisions:
-
Recodified existing INS regulations regarding asylum;
-
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.
-
Created new limits on the ability of F-1 students to attend public schools
without reimbursing those institutions;
-
Established new mandates for educational institutions to collect information
on foreign students' status and nationality and provide it to INS;
-
Tightened restrictions regarding foreign physicians' ability to work in the
United States;
-
Added new consular processing provisions and revised the visa waiver
program.
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