The History
Immigration to the United States has served as a significant source of cultural change as well as population growth throughout much of America's history. The social, political and economic factors associated with immigration have also resulted in controversy related to economic benefits, ethnicity, employment, settlement patterns, crime and voting patterns. As of 2006, the U.S. accepted more legal immigrants than any of the other countries in the world together. The number of first generation immigrants residing in the U.S. has quadrupled since immigration policy in the U.S. became more liberalized in 1965. Since that time the number has risen from approximately 9 million in 1970 to 38 million in 2007. The countries with the largest number of people immigrating to the United States include Mexico, the Philippines and India. Recently, debates regarding immigration have included calls for increased enforcement of existing laws regarding illegal immigration as well as the construction of a barrier along at least part of the 2,000 mile border that exists between the United States and Mexico. There have also been calls for the creation of a new guest worker program. Immigration to the United Sates has taken place through four distinct periods, including the colonial period, the mid-19th century, the turn of the 20th century and post-1965. Each period of time has introduced distinctive races, national groups and ethnicities within the United States. Throughout the 17th century, some 175,000 people of English descent made their way to colonial America. More than half of all European immigrants reached American shores as indentured servants during the 17th and 18th centuries. A large influx of immigrants arrived from northern Europe during the mid-19th century while immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe arrived during the early 20th century. Immigrants arriving after 1965 were primarily from Asian and Latin America. Historians have estimated that possibly as few as 400,000 immigrants made their way across the Atlantic Ocean to America between 1600 and 1700. Naturalization was limited to "free white persons" during this time, although it was later expanded to include blacks during the 1860s and Asians during the 1950s. Immigration remained at around 8,000 people per year during America's early years. Following 1820, immigration increased at a gradual rate. The first immigration law was not passed until 1875. The peak of immigration of persons from Europe occurred in 1907; at which time some 1,285,349 people entered the United States. The immigrant population of the United States had reached 13.5 million by 1910.

The Emergency Quota Act
The Emergency Quota Act was subsequently passed by Congress in 1921, followed by the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924. The goal of the Act was to further restrict immigration of Eastern and Southern Europeans, particularly Italians, Jews and Slavs. The majority of European refugees fleeing World War II were prevented from entering the U.S. Throughout the 1930s the Great Depression dominated immigration patterns. Beginning in the early years of the Depression, more people left the United States than actually immigrated to it. The Mexican Repatriation program was sponsored by the U.S. government with the intent of encouraging individuals to voluntarily relocate to Mexico. In the end, thousands of persons were actually involuntarily deported. A total of approximately 400,000 Mexicans were eventually repatriated as a result of the program. The Hart-Cellar Act or Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965 removed the national-origin quota system. Between 1965 and 1970, immigration to the United States doubled. Between 1970 and 1990, it doubled again. President George H.W. Bush signed the Immigration Act of 1990; resulting in further increased legal immigration to the United States by approximately 40%. The U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, appointed by President Bill Clinton, subsequently called for reductions in legal immigration to approximately 550,000 per year. Between 2000 and 2005, almost 8 million immigrants entered the United States. This was more than any other 5 year period in the history of the country. Approximately half of those individuals entered the country illegally. Seven amnesties have been passed by Congress for illegal immigrants since 1986, including an immigration reform which granted amnesty to some 3 million illegal immigrants; signed by President Ronald Reagan. In 2009, some 1.1 million immigrants were granted legal residence in the United States.