Appendix E — Summary of the Three Principal Acts of the United States
I — The “Act to Regulate Immigration,” 1882
Section 1 provides for the levying of a duty of fifty cents on all alien passengers arriving at any port in the United States. The money thus collected goes to form the “Immigrant Fund,” which is used for the purpose of defraying the expenses of carrying out the Act, and for the care of the immigrants who arrive at the ports in sickness or distress.
By Section 2 the Secretary of the Treasury is charged with the general supervision of immigration business. He is empowered to enter into contracts with such State Commissioners or Boards as may be designated by the Governor of any State, to take charge of the Local immigration of the ports within the said States. It authorizes the State Commissioners to appoint persons to go on board the ships when they arrive at the ports, and if “on such examination there shall be found among such passengers any convict, lunatic, idiot, or any person unable to take care of himself or herself, without becoming a public charge, they shall report the same in writing to the collector of such port, and such persons shall not be permitted to land.”
Section 3 gives the Secretary of the Treasury wide discretion as to the regulations which he may deem fit to issue from time to time.
Section 4 enacts that “all foreign convicts, except those convicted of political offences, upon arrival shall be sent back to the nations to which they belong.” Lastly—and this is most important—“the expense of the return of such passengers as are not permitted to land shall be borne by the owners of the vessel in which they came.”
II — The Alien Contract Labour Law, 1885
By Section 1 it is made unlawful for any person, company, etc., to prepay the transportation, or in any way assist the importation, of aliens under contract to perform labour made previous to the importation.
Section 2 declares that all such contracts shall be void in the United States.
Section 3 imposes a penalty of one thousand dollars for each violation of Section 1.
Section 4 declares that any master of a vessel knowingly bringing any such labourers into the United States, is guilty of a misdemeanour, and will be fined five hundred dollars for each labourer, or six months’ imprisonment, or both.
Section 5 makes certain exceptions to the excluded classes, in the case of a skilled workman engaged to carry out a new industry not already established in the United States, and so forth.
In 1885 further sections were added to this Act, providing for the examination of ships; for the non-landing of prohibited persons; for the return of such persons by Boards designated by the Secretary of the Treasury; and for compelling the expense of the return of such persons to be borne by the owners of the vessels which brought them to America; the owners and masters of vessels refusing to pay such expenses, not being allowed to land at, or clear from, any port in the United States.
III — The Immigration Act of 1891
The new Act may briefly be analyzed as follows:—Section 1 specifies the classes of aliens henceforth to be excluded from admission to the United States, viz.—All idiots, insane persons, paupers, or persons likely to become a public charge; persons suffering from a loathsome or a dangerous contagious disease; persons who have been convicted of felony or other infamous crime or misdemeanour involving moral turpitude; polygamists; and also any persons whose ticket or passage is paid for with the money of another, or who is assisted by others to come, unless it is satisfactorily shown on inquiry that such person does not belong to any of the foregoing excluded classes, or to the class of contract labourers excluded by the Act of 1885. As in the Act of 1882, the exclusion of persons convicted of political offences is carefully guarded against.
Section 2 provides for the more vigorous enforcement of the Act of 1885.
Sections 3 and 4 declare that immigrants coming to the United States through the solicitation of advertising agents in Europe shall be treated as violators of the law, and steamship companies are prohibited from encouraging such immigration.
Section 5 specifies ministers of religion, persons belonging to the recognized professions, and professors of colleges or seminaries, as persons not to be excluded under the Act of 1885.
Section 6 provides penalties of fine and imprisonment up to a thousand dollars, or a year’s imprisonment, or both, for violation of Act.
Section 7 establishes the office of Superintendent of Immigration under the Treasury Department. The remaining sections of the Act may be summarized as follows:—(a) That the names and nationalities of immigrants shall be reported on arrival, and that they shall be promptly inspected by authorized agents empowered to decide upon their right to land. (b) Provision is made for the better inspection of the Canadian, British, Columbian, and Mexican borders, (c) That State and municipal authorities may exercise such jurisdiction over immigrant stations as may be necessary for the public peace, (d) That all immigrants who come in violation of the law shall be immediately sent back to the ships that brought them to the port; or if that be impracticable, they may be returned at any time within a year after their arrival. Any alien who may become a public charge within a year from his arrival shall be sent back to the country from whence he came. (e) That the Federal Courts shall have full jurisdiction in all cases arising under this Act.