Chinese Exclusion Act

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

Long title	An Act to Execute Certain Treaty Stipulations Relating to Chinese
Enacted by	the 47th United States Congress
Effective	May 6, 1882
Citations
Public law	Pub. L. 47–126
Statutes at Large	22 Stat. 58, Chap. 126
Codification
U.S.C. sections created	8 U.S.C. ch. 7
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 5804 by Horace F. Page (R–CA) on April 12, 1882 Committee consideration by House Foreign Relations Passed the House on April 17, 1882 Votes 88R 102D Not Voting 52 (202–37) Passed the Senate on April 28, 1882 Votes 9R 22D Not Voting 29 (32–15) with amendment House agreed to Senate amendment on May 3, 1882 (Agreed) Signed into law by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882
Major amendments
Repealed by Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act on December 17, 1943

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law made exceptions for travelers and diplomats.^[2] The Act also denied Chinese residents already in the US the ability to become citizens and Chinese people traveling in or out of the country were required to carry a certificate identifying their status or risk deportation. It was the first major US law implemented to prevent all members of a specific national group from immigrating to the United States, and therefore helped shape twentieth-century immigration policy.^[3][4]

Passage of the law was preceded by growing anti-Chinese sentiment and anti-Chinese violence, as well as various policies targeting Chinese migrants.^[5] The act followed the Angell Treaty of 1880, a set of revisions to the US–China Burlingame Treaty of 1868 that allowed the US to suspend Chinese immigration. The act was initially intended to last for 10 years, but was renewed and strengthened in 1892 with the Geary Act and made permanent in 1902. These laws attempted to stop all Chinese immigration into the United States for ten years, with exceptions for diplomats, teachers, students, merchants, and travelers. The laws were widely evaded.^[6]

In 1898, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that the law did not prevent the children of Chinese immigrants born in the United States from acquiring birthright citizenship.

The law remained in force until the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act in 1943, which repealed the exclusion and allowed 105 Chinese immigrants to enter the United States each year. Chinese immigration later increased with the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which abolished direct racial barriers, and later by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which abolished the National Origins Formula.^[7]