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The Immigration Policy in the United States plays an important role throughout the whole of American history. Changes in immigration policy in the United States affect social and cultural issues as well as political, economic and interest group issues. The formulation and adjustment of American immigration policy is not only the product of American traditional culture, but also the result of competition and compromise among different interest groups.

The United States immigration policy also effects the entire U.S. economic history. Studies have shown that policy changes in different periods of the United States have played a positive role in the economic development of different periods. Every change in immigration policy has had an impact on the US economy since the earliest liberal immigration period in the United States.

The immigration policy of the United States has evolved under different historical conditions in different periods. Changes in immigration policy can be divided into three major stages： The Period of Free Migration (1607-1882), The Period of Exclusion and Restriction (1882-World War II), and The Period of Restriction and Selection (after World War II - now).

The Period of Free Migration (1607-1882)
Since Columbus discovered the new continent of the Americas, North America had the trace of Europeans. Until 1607, the British in Virginia's James Estuary established the first colony base called Jamestown. After Jamestown, organized and perpetual immigration activities began.

As early as England had 13 colonies, Western European white settlers, mainly from England, largely moved to these 13 colonies and quickly replaced the Indians as the dominant force in the development of North America. At the same time, a large number of blacks being forced to migrate as slaves accompanied the Europeans to this land. Both the Europeans and slaves have had an important influence on the development of the colonial economy and the formation of the American nation and became the main force of the North American War of Independence.

After the War of Independence, the United States had become a new capitalist country, but the economic structure was incomplete and the industrial base was weak. To consolidate independence, The United States had to quickly develop the economy. However, because of the low population, the biggest problem for the United States in developing was the extreme lack of labor. The government adopted the policy to encourage free immigration in order to solve the problem of the labor shortage. A series of policies promulgated to make the Western United States has a huge development.

In 1864 the US government set up the immigration office, and adopted the Encourage Immigration Law. The United States adopted a variety of incentives to encourage free immigrants, so a large number of immigrants came to the United States. From 1820 to 1860, the number of immigrants to the United States reached 5 million people; from 1861 to 1870 reached 2 million and 315 thousand immigrants; from 1871 to 1880 reached 2 million 812 thousand immigrants; from 1881 to 1900 reached 3 million 688 thousand immigrants; from 1901 to 1910 reached 8 million 795 thousand immigrants. The influx of large numbers of immigrants has become a factor in the rapid growth of the population of the United States. It was precisely because of the hard work of immigrants that the United States had rapidly completed industrialization, and became the world's industrial power.

Chinese Exclusion Act
On May 6, 1882, the United States President Arthur signed the "Chinese Exclusion Act". The Act prohibited immigration of Chinese to the United States in terms of three aspects – Chinese workers were absolutely prohibited into the United States within ten years; Chinese who lived in the United States without documents would be deported; Chinese people would not be allowed to join US citizenship going forward. This was the first exclusion law against specific ethnic immigrants and also the longest discriminatory law throughout the history of the United States. The Act was not repealed until December 17, 1943.

Background
In the late 1840s, the United States had the rise of a "gold rush" in California. At that time the Western United States was sparsely populated and miners were badly needed. In this situation, a lot of laborers came to the United States and contributed to the development of the country. At first, Chinese laborers spent the most time digging gold, but as the amount of gold decreased, they began to find other jobs to make a living, among which building railway became popular. The Eastern United States had tens of thousands of miles of railways, but their wealth had been blocked by the steep Rocky Mountains. In this case, building railway became a top priority. As a result, many Chinese laborers took the job, and 90% of the project was undertaken by Chinese laborers. From 1848 to 1882, at least 300,000 Chinese laborers entered the United States. These laborers were hard-working, mostly engaged in mining, road construction, agriculture, catering, laundry and other industries. They played a significant role in the prosperity of the US economy. However, with the completion of the Pacific Railroad, a large number of laborers got unemployed. Americans and European white immigrants thought that this was caused by the Chinese people since they finished the job too fast, so they complained that Chinese laborers took their jobs and hated them. The Western United State saw a wave of anti-Chinese.

The Contribution of Chinese workers
Chinese laborers created the primitive accumulation of capital for the development of the Western United States. In 1860, there were more than 83,000 miners in California, of which 24,000 were Chinese laborers, accounting for two-thirds of the Chinese on the west coast. In 1870, the number of miners was reduced to 30,000, and there were still 17,000 Chinese laborers. Between 1848 and 1883, California's gold production reached $ 1.2 billion, accounting for two-thirds of US gold. Construction of the railroad started in November 1863, and 90 percent of the project was built by Chinese workers. Meanwhile, Chinese laborers had promoted the development of light industry. In 1881, most of the workers in the 20 cans factory of Sacramento were Chinese. In 1888, among the canned food industries in California, Oregon, Washington and other states, the Chinese workers covered 86% of the total number of workers. In 1867, the San Francisco cigar factories had about 500 people, among which 450 were Chinese; in 1877, there were about 6,500 cigar workers, and Chinese workers were 5500. Even in 1866, San Francisco's cigar factories were mostly operated by Chinese laborers. According to the 1875 statistics, 90% of cigars produced in San Francisco were made by Chinese.

Marriage
During World War II, many American soldiers married foreign women, but their spouses could not enter the US since the quotas of immigration were full. To solve the problem, the US Congress passed the War Brides Act in 1945. It allowed War brides and fiancées to come to the US. This Act remained for three years. After six months, Congress published the Fiancées Act: if the fiancées could not marry the US servicemen in three months, they would have to return home. In 1987, children whose fathers were American soldiers in Vietnam could immigrate to the United States. Congress passed the Amerasian Homecoming Act. This Act aimed at helping American servicemen’s children come to the U.S. because they were suffering isolation, homelessness, and other problems in Vietnam, and the diplomatic relationship between Vietnam and the United States was not good.

Mexican
In 1964, without a commitment from both countries (The United States and Mexico), Mexican laborers entered the U.S. with no paperwork. This led to 1-2 million illegal Mexican immigrants moving in the US in 1980. For protecting the safety of America, the Secure Fence Act was signed in 2006. It allowed the construction of a double-layered fence along the Southern border of the nation, which was hundreds of miles long. However, this Act was canceled in 2011 for technical problems, heavy cost, and an overdue schedule.

Asian
Asian suffered a lot from the immigration policy, they faced a strong discrimination in the U.S. In 1965, the Hart-Celler Immigration and Nationality Act abolished the discrimination on the nation of origin and race in immigration criteria. Starting from June 30, 1968, immigrants would not be rejected based on their original nation and would be inspected by family relations, refugee status, and the “needed skills”. After the Act, Indian immigration grew from 16,000 people to more than 96,000 people.

Refugee
In 1980, the Primary Goal of the Refugee Act was passed in the US with international law’s requirement. Individuals who could not or unwilling to return to their home country for persecution based on race, religion, political opinion or other reasons were permitted to apply for ‘asylum’ and stay in the U.S.

Illegal immigrants
In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act stated that if illegal immigrants entered the U.S. before January 1st, 1982 and kept residing, their status would change to legal immigrants. In 1996, the Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act permitted 300,000 Central Americans to become legal residents. Under the control of President Obama, undocumented children who came to the US with parents were allowed to stay in the US. Obama also tried to prevent the deportation of millions of illegal immigrants from the America.

Donald Trump’s policy on immigration
President Trump signed two executive orders and two immigration executive orders right after he became president of the United States. He insisted that the construction of a wall was necessary along the US-Mexico border, and border patrol forces should be increased to avoid unauthorized immigrants to enter the country. He also stated that the cost of construction should be paid by the Mexican government. Finally, he said that for national safety and precaution against terrorists, Congress would offer sufficient funds to hire more agents and officers to carry out deportations. Besides, immigrations from six Muslim-majority countries were banned to enter the US; all refugees were not allowed to enter temporarily. This order was inspected by federal courts and blocked.