Why I Reference the Immigration Act of 1924

People often ask me why I reference the Immigration Act of 1924. I reference it because the provisions for this Act laid the groundwork for Immigration Quotas for Southern, Eastern Europeans and Asians while setting no limits for Latin American countries. The strongest supporters of this Act were eugenicists who advocated racial hygiene. (e.g. Madison Grant). He believed the Northern European race was vastly superior to other races. Additionally Corporations, their lobbyists and trade unions petitioned Congress for the passage of this bill. They believed their “race” was being mongrelized by the other groups and they also believed they could use the indigenous, docile workers from Latin America as their indentured servants, there to support all manual labor and work “Northern European Americans” wouldn´t do.

All the immigration issues the ANTIs talk about stem from this bill. Tan commented on my earlier blog, “We the People can set whatever immigration policy We deem fit. And We can change it to suit Our will any time We wish. Do you have any respect for American constitution, laws, or precedents?” My response is, yes. I have total respect for our American Constitution. I do understand that we can change Immigration Policy any time we want. I also understand history, root cause and we reap what we sow.

The Immigration Act of 1924, which included the National Origins Act, Asian Exclusion Act or the Johnson-Reed Act, was a United States federal law that limited the number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the United States in 1890, according to the Census of 1890. It excluded immigration to the US of Asians. It superseded the 1921 Emergency Quota Act. The law was aimed at further restricting the Southern and Eastern Europeans who had begun to enter the country in large numbers beginning in the 1890s, as well as East Asians and Asian Indians, who were prohibited from immigrating entirely. It set no limits on immigration from Latin America.

The Act passed with strong congressional support in the wake of intense lobbying.
Some of the law's strongest supporters were influenced by Madison Grant and his 1916 book, The Passing of the Great Race. Grant was a eugenicist and an advocate of the racial hygiene theory. His data purported to show the superiority of the founding Northern European races. But most proponents of the law were rather concerned with upholding an ethnic status quo and avoiding competition with foreign workers.[2]