Immigration ‘issues’ have always been about ethnicity or race

The first significant law restricting immigration into the United States was approved on on this date in 1882. It was The Chinese Exclusion Act.

Whereas in the opinion of the Government of the United States the coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities within the territory thereof: Therefore,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That … the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States be, and the same is hereby, suspended; and during such suspension it shall not be lawful for any Chinese laborer to come, or having so come after the expiration of said ninety days to remain within the United States.

The National Archives, which has a full transcript and images of the Act, notes that: “The 1882 exclusion act also placed new requirements on Chinese who had already entered the country. If they left the United States, they had to obtain certifications to re-enter. Congress, moreover, refused State and Federal courts the right to grant citizenship to Chinese resident aliens, although these courts could still deport them.”

The exclusion of Chinese remained in effect in one form or another until 1943.