The Control of Immigration as an Administrative Problem

Our laws affecting immigration represent the accretions of ninety years, but the great mass of this legislation falls within the last third of this period. Since 1882 Congress has passed a score of immigration acts and amendments, besides the numerous immigration features embodied in laws relating primarily to other subjects.From the standpoint of purpose and aim, the provisions of this legislation may be grouped under four main heads: 1. Restrictive; 2. Protective; 3. Distributive, and 4. Administrative.For the first group a more accurately descriptive phrase would be “Restrictive and Selective,” for it is impossible to dissociate, in most provisions, the purpose of restricting the volume of immigration, lest the number of comers prove too great for our receiving population, and the purpose of controlling the quality of our immigrants, lest our citizenship suffer through undesirable additions.What are the restrictive and selective provisions of our laws? In the first place, certain classes of aliens are excluded from admission to the United States. Since our first federal measure of restriction in 1862, this list of the unwelcome has gradually lengthened, until to-day twenty-three classes may not lawfully enter.