National Origins Formula
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1921 Emergency Quota Act restricted immigration to 3% of foreign-born persons of each nationality resident in the United States in 1910.
The Immigration Act of 1924 provided that for three years immigration will be restricted to 2% based on the census of 1890, and that after June 30, 1927, total immigration from all countries will be limited to 150,000 based upon national origins of white inhabitants as shown by the census of 1920.
There were three goals:
- To reduce the overall number of unskilled immigrants.
- To allow families to re-unite.
- To keep the status quo distribution of ethnicity, by allocating quotas in proportion to the actual population. The idea was that immigration would not be allowed to change the national character.
[edit] References
- Michael Lemay and Elliott Robert Barkan; eds. U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Laws and Issues: A Documentary History Greenwood Press, 1999
- John Lescott-Leszczynski; The History of U.S. Ethnic Policy and Its Impact on European Ethnics Westview Press. 1984.
