What's New Contact Us Carole Keeton Rylander Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Window on State Government Bordering the Future Landmarks in U.S. Immigration Reform Back to Bordering the Future 1819 . Congress enacts the first significant federal immigration laws, including registration requirements for new immigrants. Enforcement of federal immigration statutes is left up to individual states. Immigration control is centralized under a commissioner reporting directly to the Secretary of State, but states and their immigration commissions, boards, and other offices retain authority over immigration.
Legislation barring Chinese immigrants and levying a head tax on each new arrival is passed.
In response to growing concerns about international tensions and war, the INS is transferred to the U.S. Department of Justice. Officially called the Emergency Farm Labor Program, but better known as the bracero program, a new law provides U.S. corporate agricultural employers with legally contracted Mexican workers. 1952 . Multiple laws governing immigration and naturalization are brought under a comprehensive statute, limiting immigration from the Eastern Hemisphere while leaving Western Hemisphere totals unrestricted. The Immigration and Nationality Act amends existing laws, for the first time establishing an official quota for legal immigration from Western Hemisphere nations and requiring the U.S. Labor Secretary to certify that prospective immigrants pose no threat to U.S. jobs. Known unofficially as the Mexican Quota, an adjustment to the 1965 amendments limits the number of legal visas issued to Mexican immigrants each year to 20,000. 1986 .