Send me your huddled masses.
Time was, you could get on a boat to America, be processed, and then be free to make your fortune. That’s no longer the case. Legal immigration is now strictly regulated. When did it change?
I believe that 1924 was when strict quotas were first instituted, which limited the number of immigrants allowed by originating country.
Asian immigration was restricted in the 1880s. And of course restrictions where placed on African “immigration” in 1808.
Yep. That, and the Depression put a damper even on what little immigration that was allowed. There were something like 280,000 immigrants in 1929, but only 23,000 in 1933. Immigration picked up again after WWII, and then really took off after 1965 when the Hart-Cellar act abolished the national origin quota system.