Illegal immigration is a problem that affects all Americans. An illegal immigrant is defined as anyone who migrates to a country for a permanent residence without any form of identification. There are many problems which develop, including overpopulation, rising crime rates and unemployment. Therefore, the American government must control the flow of illegal immigrants into America in order to provide more opportunities for Americans. .
Some people feel that illegal immigration should not be a major concern. They support this opinion by denying the major problems that result from the influx of illegal immigrants into our country. Statistics show that illegal immigrants significantly contribute to the increasing population of the United States. In order to reverse this trend and others, The American government has passed many different laws to stop this. .
In 1862, Congress passed a law that restricted American vessels from bringing Chinese immigrants into the country, unless the Chinese were going to be used for labor purposes. This restricted American vessels to transport Chinese immigrants to the U.S. The Alien Contract Labor Laws of 1885, 1887, 1888, and 1891 went even further. They restricted immigration to the United States to people who had signed work contracts before their arrival in the country. Therefore, Alien skilled laborers, were only allowed to enter the U.S. in order to work in new industries. By this time, many anti-immigrant groups were arguing that foreigners should not be allowed entry into the country, even if they were skilled laborers. (Lacey).
After World War I, racist ideologies began to increase in American society. This, along with the growth of isolationist policies, this along with the growth of isolationist foreign policy, led to further immigration legislation. In 1921, a congressional act provided for a quota system for immigrants immigration. This meant that the number of aliens of any nationality admitted each year could not exceed 3 percent of the foreign-born residents of that nationality then living in the United States.