Library Index :: Immigration in America - Issues, Attitudes, and History :: Immigration—Almost Four Hundred Years of American History - Coming To America, Attitudes Toward Immigrants, The First Century Of Immigration, Immigration At The Turn Of Thetwentieth Century

Immigration—Almost Four Hundred Years of American History - Immigration At The Turn Of Thetwentieth Century

A Million Immigrants a Year

Immigration and Naturalization Service annual records reported that the nation's already high immigration rate at the turn of the century doubled between 1902 and 1907. Immigration reached a million per year in

TABLE 1.2
Aliens excluded, by administrative reason for exclusion, 1892–1990
SOURCE: Adapted from "Table 44. Aliens Excluded by Administrative Reason for Exclusion: Fiscal Years 1892–1990," in Enforcement Supplemental Tables for 2003 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics, September 2004, http://uscis.gov/graphics/shared/aboutus/statistics/ENF03yrbk/ENFExcel/Table44.xls (accessed February 9, 2005)

Year Total Subversive or anarchist Criminal or narcotics violations Immoral Mental or physical defect Likely to become public charge Stowaway Attemped entry without inspection or without proper documents Contract laborer Unable to read (over 16 years of age) Other
1892–1990 650,252 1,369 17,465 8,209 82,590 219,399 16,240 204,943 41,941 13,679 44,417
1892–1900 22,515 — 65 89 1,309 15,070 — — 5,792 — 190
1901–10 108,211 10 1,681 1,277 24,425 63,311 — — 12,991 — 4,516
1911–20 178,109 27 4,353 4,824 42,129 90,045 1,904 — 15,417 5,083 14,327
1921–30 189,307 9 2,082 1,281 11,044 37,175 8,447 94,084 6,274 8,202 20,709
1931–40 68,217 5 1,261 253 1,530 12,519 2,126 47,858 1,235 258 1,172
1941–50 30,263 60 1,134 80 1,021 1,072 3,182 22,441 219 108 946
1951–60 20,585 1,098 2,017 361 956 149 376 14,657 13 26 932
1961–70 4,831 128 383 24 145 27 175 3,706 — 2 241
1971–80 8,455 32 814 20 31 31 30 7,237 — — 260
1981–90 19,759 NA 3,675 NA NA NA NA 14,960 — — 1,124
Note: From 1941–53, statistics represent all exclusions at sea and air ports and exclusions of aliens seeking entry for 30 days or longer at land ports. After 1953, includes aliens excluded after formal hearings.
—Represents.
NA Not available.

1905, 1906, 1907, 1910, 1913, and 1914 but declined to less than 325,000 per year from 1915 through 1919 due to World War I. Many Americans worried about the growing influx of immigrants, whose customs were unfamiliar to the majority of the native population. Anti-Catholic, anti-political radicalism (usually expressed as anti-socialism), and racist movements became more prevalent along with a resurgence of nativism.

The Immigration Act of 1907 (34 Stat. 898) barred the immigration of feeble-minded persons, those with physical or mental defects that might prevent them from earning a living, and persons with tuberculosis. Increasing the head tax on each arriving immigrant to five dollars, the 1907 law also officially classified the arriving aliens as "immigrants" (persons planning to take up residence in the United States) and "nonimmigrants" (persons visiting for a short period of time to attend school, conduct business, or travel as tourists). All arrivals were required to declare their intentions for permanent or temporary stays in the United States. The law further authorized the president to refuse admission to persons he considered harmful to the labor conditions in the nation.

Reflecting national concerns about conflicts between old and new immigrant groups, Bureau of Immigration annual reports proposed that the immigrants should be more widely dispersed throughout the rest of the country, instead of being concentrated mostly in the northeastern urban areas. Not only would such a distribution of aliens help relieve the nation's urban problems, but the bureau thought it might promote greater racial and cultural assimilation.

The Immigration Act of 1917

The mounting negative feelings toward immigrants resulted in the Immigration Act of 1917 (39 Stat. 874), which was passed despite President Woodrow Wilson's veto. In addition to codifying (compiling into a complete system of written law) previous immigration legislation, the 1917 act required that immigrants be able to read and write in their native language and pass a literacy test, which proved to be a controversial clause. The new act also added the following groups to the inadmissible classes of immigrants: "illiterates, persons of constitutional psychopathic inferiority, men and women entering for immoral reasons, chronic alcoholics, stowaways, vagrants, persons who had suffered a previous attack of insanity," and those coming from the designated Asiatic "barred zone," comprising mostly Asia and the Pacific Islands. This provision was a continuation of the Chinese Exclusion Act and the "Gentleman's Agreement" of 1907, in which the Japanese government had agreed to stop the flow of workers to the United States. In 1918 passports were required by presidential proclamation for all entries into the United States.

Denied Entry

Despite the restrictive immigration legislation, only a small percentage of those attempting to migrate to the United States were turned away. Between 1892 and 1990, 650,252 persons were denied entry for a variety of reasons. (See Table 1.2.) Aside from those attempting to enter without proper papers, the largest group excluded was 219,399 persons considered "likely to become public charges." The thirty-year period from 1901 to 1930 was the peak era for exclusion of immigrants deemed likely to become public charges, mentally or physically defective, or immoral. The 1917 ban on illiterate immigrants excluded 13,679 aliens over the next 50 years.

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