When did immigration become "illegal"?

Question

Many years agao did people from a different country have to go through all the same things they do now? Or could they just come and go freely? I do know however that it was ALOT easier to enter the USA b4 9-11.

Answer 1

immigration is not illegal, when done through the appropriate channels and under the auspices of established and enforced legislation.

immigration is ILLEGAL when you don't do it by the book. Most don't do it by the book (at least on our southern borders).

Before 9/11, the USA was in a global, cultural, moral and political stupor. Don't believe me, look at the b/s that was debated on the floor of the Senate or the House the week before 9/11. We looked the other way and it cost us lives, American lives, and it put a focus on the huge gaps in security and economics that this country faces. Illegal immigration, uncontrolled immigration, weakens this country, and if it took 9/11 to wake people up to the fact that breaking laws breaks down society, so be it. The rule and respect of law separates the human from the savage in theory. Once we begin to break the law as a rule, once we fail to enforce the law as a rule, society no longer continues as it has, and decomposes. You don't want that, trust me (see Iraq, Gaza, Sudan for examples).

Illegal immigration was always illegal. Immigration through lawful means will always be legal. That is the distinction.

Answer 2

There are two types of immigration: legal and illegal.

The U.S. has had both for most of its history. Legal immigrants go through significant hurdles, as they do in any country, in an effort to protect the native population from the risks associated with any immigrant. Throughout history, immigrants have represented risks of disease, crime, job loss, etc. Those risks are weighed against our desire to be an open and accepting society.

Illegal immigrants skip all those checks and simply penetrate our weak border security. Once here, very little exists to prevent them from staying.

With 9/11, a new risk was added to the list of concerns with immigration: security. With such a porous border to the south, the United States was awakened to the reality of the security crisis facing it. People now see the possibility of terrorists crossing the border - a very real concern. Added to the already significant concerns about illegal immigration and it's easy to see why stemming illegal immigration has come to the forefront for many people.

Legal immigration, however, is not a problem. The sad thing is that the vast flood of illegals have drawn suspicion unfairly upon legal immigrants as well.

Answer 3

A long time ago we didn't have subsidized services so it wasn't so necessary that we limit poor immigrants who came here. The first laws were in the late 1800s but the first major laws were in the 1920's as I understand it. There were still quotas but limits were imposed which protected education and services here.

It is such a big deal now because the number of them has become so huge it is a major drain on education and other services and significantly impacts wages in occupations Americans still want to work in - like construction. When there were fewer the problem wasn't as big. Limited immigration is the key.

Answer 4

When many immigrants arrived from Europe they had to go through "Ellis Island" where they were required to go through a health-check, they signed a register and so on... in a sense "legal" immigration since they used the front door. I'm sure the process has become rediculously complex now...as it certainly goes beyond signing a register and being checked for tuberculosis, but...there is still a legal process that should be followed. "Illegal" immigrants today sneak through the back door...

Answer 5

Immigration is one thing. There are rules to enter a country. Just try getting into Mexico or Canada without a passport for example. It is illegal when you don't follow the entry rules, and always has been.

Answer 6

Immigration has been controlled for centuries, just never been well enforced.
The pilgrims in fact, entered the New world with a "land grant" from the King of England. They unfortunately settled outside that original grant, (in Mass.) and had to petition england for legal rights to remain in Plymouth

Answer 7

Immigration became illegal as soon as migrants would come here without going through the formal admittance process. We're not at all outlawing immigration, we just need to, for our own safety, and security, need to follow an orderly process, which requires us to document the comings and goings at our borders.

Answer 8

Immigration isn't illegal. People who "jump the border," buy papers and soc security numbers, and don't have a visa to be here in the first place are illegal. You can't just wander in and stay here. You need to apply.

Answer 9

Immigration is not illegal when you follow the laws that we set in place to protect the people living here.

Answer 10

Years ago people came here documented and by following the law (immigration).

Now people come here undocumented and without regard for laws (illegal).