# Conservatives outraged by ICE **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 15, 2025, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656 "2025-06-15T14:33:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/61 "2025-06-18T19:06:48Z")
I understand we had open borders [until 1924](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/17/us-immigration-system-profit); such a policy would certainly stop people from crossing illegally. I don’t advocated it though. (Wait: that cite isn’t correct… [The Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act#:~:text=When%20the%20exclusion%20act%20expired,US%20government%20or%20face%20deportation), later extended, regulated immigration.) Ok, immigration restrictions started in 1875: [How U.S. immigration laws and rules have changed through history | Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/09/30/how-u-s-immigration-laws-and-rules-have-changed-through-history/#:~:text=The%20United%20States%20began%20regulating%20immigration%20soon,concerns%20about%20refugees%2C%20unauthorized%20immigration%20and%20terrorism). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/62 "2025-06-18T19:14:26Z")
The first immigration laws were earlier than that. They only restricted immigration from nations we were at war with, but that still left it theoretically possible for someone to violate them. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656/63 "2025-06-18T19:26:11Z")
The Alien and Sedition Act (1798) permitted noncitizens to be rounded up and deported, but I don’t think it banned them from setting foot in the country. Granted, such policies would very much discourage immigration from countries that we are at war with. > **[CIR-1790Timeline.pdf](https://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/publications/CIR-1790Timeline.pdf)** > **[Alien and Sedition Acts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_and_Sedition_Acts)** > > The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 were a set of four United States statutes that sought, on national security grounds, to restrict immigration and limit 1st Amendment protections for freedom of speech. They were endorsed by the Federalist Party of President John Adams as a response to a developing dispute with the French Republic and to related fears of domestic political subversion. The prosecution of journalists under the Sedition Act rallied public support for the opposition Democratic-Re... [Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)’s underlying point is correct of course. The idea that failure to prevent smuggling means a government has lost control of its border is absurd and hysterical: there’s not a sizable country in the history of the world that has prevented smuggling. ETA: Cato offers a deeper dive into colonial and early US immigration debates than Pew: [https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/brief-history-us-immigration-policy-colonial-period-present-day#post-ratification-period](https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/brief-history-us-immigration-policy-colonial-period-present-day#post-ratification-period) I didn’t know about this for example: > By 1819, economic depression and the worry that Britain might ship their poor to the United States tempered Congress’ pro-immigration position. While Congress lacked an enumerated power under the Constitution to control immigration, in 1819 it indirectly regulated immigration under the guise of safety by limiting the number of passengers that a ship could carry based on its tonnage.[38](https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/brief-history-us-immigration-policy-colonial-period-present-day#_ednref38) This legislation lowered the carrying capacity of passenger ships and increased the price of travel, consequently reducing the number of poor immigrants who could afford passage. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservatives-outraged-by-ice/1019656.md?page=3)