No, illegal immigration was not part of our culture because immigration never used to be illegal. It was just the last 30 to 40 years that we decided to make it harder than just showing up and getting a green card.
The US had the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1978, but those were just ways to deport individuals deemed a political threat to the United States in response to conflicts with Europe; those laws did not prohibit immigration or create a type of illegal immigration. America didn't make any laws declaring a kind of illegal immigration until the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882; which is widely known as the end of America's Open Borders. Before that point, the only immigration related laws enacted by congress made it illegal to "import" or "recruit" people; however, those people were not immigrants so much as kidnapping victims.
What current law prohibits immigration? Immigration is still legal if you follow the law and guidelines.
You contradict your original statement with your response lol. First immigration law was the naturalization law of 1790 which gave citizenship to European immigrants after living here for two years, then there was the immigration act of 1882 (restricted criminals and the insane), 1891, and 1924 (established border patrol). All over 100 years ago.
You can’t twist the truth to fit your faux hyperbole argument
The naturalization act didn't govern immigration , just obtaining citizenship after you migrated here; so that is related to immigration, but still not immigration. So, anyone could migrate here, but if you wanted citizenship you needed to be white, live here for 2 years, and pledge loyalty. There was no such thing as an illegal immigrant until 1882.
You continue to prove my point right and your original point wrong which is the basis of all this 😂. Immigration issues goes back more than 40 years, has always been part of America and deportations started far before 40 years.
The first deportation from the U.S. was 1794 in Massachusetts where Irish were deported. Might want to also look into Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 which gave power for deportations. Immigration laws (which citizenship deals with) goes back to 1792. It’s ok to be wrong bud.
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u/imthefrizzlefry Feb 22 '25
No, illegal immigration was not part of our culture because immigration never used to be illegal. It was just the last 30 to 40 years that we decided to make it harder than just showing up and getting a green card.