These people are not illegal one day and enjoying the rights and benefits of legal residency the next without any sacrifice or work on their part. I would like to take a moment to put these provisions I am about to discuss in a historical context. For the vast majority of our Nations history. there were few. if any. requirements for immigrants entering this country. The first restrictive immigration laws. other than those racially based. were not passed until the late 1880s and did not substantially change for several decades. including during the height of European immigration in the early 1900s. These laws excluded convicts. polygamists. prostitutes. persons suffering from loathsome or contagious diseases. and persons liable to become public charges. The 1917 literacy requirement required individuals to be able to write out 40 words in some language. not necessarily English. These requirements. I would say. were not particularly strenuous. The INS. once established in 1891. actually ran its own schools and supplied textbooks to help immigrants learn English and civics. There was no requirement to work or have marketable skills. For the most part. if you arrived and were relatively healthy. you were admitted.
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