What is meant by national origins? At the present time no Congressman. except one who was born abroad. is considered in the method of computing the quotas. No nativeborn Congressman is considered in the computation of the 1890 quota law. No one but foreign born are considered. This statesman. Senator Lodge. saw at once that it would not do in this great America of ours to allow immigration to be determined and based upon the foreign born only. No one is counted in the 1890 quota but the foreignborn. How do they count them? The 1924 law grew out of the quota law of 1921. It is one of the most important pieces of legislation enacted in this country in the last generation. Why do I say that? If you will go back into the history of naturalization and immigration you will find that the Constitution of the United States nowhere says anything about immigration. It says that the Congress of the United States shall have the power to enact laws governing naturalization. but not a word about immigration. The law of immigration. the right of Congress to enact immigration laws. comes because of a judicial decision. a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. Immigration has always been a live question. The 1921 law had a serious defect in it. We selected our immigrants under that law on this side of the ocean. This resulted in many immigrants being turned back after they had left their native country and paid for their transportation. In the 1924 law we changed the manner of selection. and now the process of selection is carried on by our consuls abroad. The 1.924 law provides that the quotas should be 2 per cent of the foreign born in this country. as shown by the 1890 census. The object of the nationalorigins clause is to change that. and to base immigration on the whole people. both native born and foreign born. What could be more just and fair. Some one says that that is impracticable.
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Immigration foreign born immigration immigrants naturalization quota law