What factors prompted congress to pass laws restricting immigrant?
464957
There have been restrictions on immigration from the time that the U.S. was formed.  There are several reasons for this.  I will give you three:\n\nStrict control of immigration protects our national security\nby keeping out spys and terrorists.  We relaxed our immigration laws incrementally from the 1930's and continuing to today and we have seen multiple terrorist attacks in that time.\n\nControlling immigration controls allow us to screen out the criminals and deadbeats.\n\nToo large an influx of immigrants at any given time could potentially cause our economy to collapse.
592584
It's not so much the South American countries pressure that is pushing the issue. It's the fact that we have allowed a situation where we have several million people in this county undocumented. \n9/11 brought to light the security danger this presents. Reforming immigration should allow us to know who is in this country if the reform is done correctly. \nAlso, the pressure is coming more so from the millions of legal immigrants and the Hispanic-Americans native to the US.
723675
Immigrants would stop coming illegally if people would stop hiring them. But the people who hire illegal immigrants are also folks who have a lot of influence with Congress because they're wealthy. They want to keep the cheap labor, and they'll pull campaign contributions for anyone who votes for real reform.
947943
Neither. But those who benefit from unlimited immigration of unskilled workers tend to be Republicans. \n\nFollow the money: they want cheap labor, and competition for low-end jobs keeps wages of American citizens down too.
611929
There are obvious causes and several not so obvious causes:\n1. Quotas per country per year. The moment the quota is reached, immigration cannot be granted to people from the country that reached their quota therefore interviews are suspended\n2. Secrecy about the process. Even as an applicant you don't get information where you stand regarding your application. For example a question if they received all paper-works will not get answered in most cases. You don't even get the information if they received the application at all. So if anything went wrong with the mail you have no chance of resending since they don't tell you if they received it. You are fully at the mercy of the INS personal.\n3. Insufficient staffing. \n4. Most probably suboptimal processes. If the process were optimal it would not be necessary to make them so secret. \n\n\nIn Canada you will be informed every time you send something that they received it and when to expect the next communication. The process itself is documented on public government websites and there are phone numbers where you can inquire where you stand. This leads to significantly shorter wait times and faster processing while maintaining a very high level of prudence and accuracy.
605850
Only reason is cause, this is a "internal" problem. But that's how it is with dividing cities. Poors (in this case: illegal aliens), move to cities, than the middle to upper class move to the suburbs.\n\nIn conclusion, I don't think this will really stir much division of the U.S., because it's not like the Civil War. The illegal immigrationists aren't being used by the people who support them.\n\nAmericans will come to their senses, and support NO ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION!
486374
I suppose for the same reason people allow "illegal" immigrants to break our laws while so many immigrants became legal citizens the proper way and respected the laws of the land.\n\nIts kind of a double standard thing going on, by the government AND the people. It could be worse. We could have a government like China who dictates everything the people do period. But now that I think about it - our government is steadily headed that way since 9-11.\n\nI would also like to add.., MuaRung.., must not be an American Citizen. He or she would probably have you arrested for for the way you (and I) write if he or she could. Must be a wealthy communist. :-)
485003
Laws from where? The US Congress, your state Congress? Britain? Australia? There are lots of places that pass lots of laws. We need more information.
430492
As it stands, it would allow illegal immigrants become legal.  The biggest barriers appear to be in terms of enforcing our current and potential laws for managing immigration.
926428
The only block of voters in Congress who were going to put a stop to it was the House Republicans.  They were going to have enforcement, no amnesty.  They are out of power.
49652
I'd say one was passage of the civil rights legislation in the 1960s. Delegates of a representative democracy (elected by a majority) voted for it.\n\nYou could extend that reasoning to cover everything from voting rights, to certain rights for illegal aliens, to SBA incentives for minorities to start businesses. \n\nI hope this is for school and you're cheating.
1068000
Very simple...politics. All of the minority lobbies have their bases convinced immigration reform is racism. No one wants to lose any votes.
495627
The US has been extremely open and generous to inmigrants, to the extent of going out of the way to help out inmigrants. Where else in the world can an inmigrant take a driver's licence test in his/her native language? That is also applied to inmigration forms, education... I could go on. The US has every right to enforce inmigration laws, just the same way any other country does. That I know on a first-hand basis because I've lived abroad, and have abided by other countries' inmigration laws- whose paperwork, by the way, can be a  very, very long process!
522623
How are our immigration laws unconstitutional? The Constitution applies to AMERICAN CITIZENS.
136210
The Arthur Administration enacted the first general Federal immigration law. Arthur approved a measure in 1882 excluding paupers, criminals, and lunatics. Congress suspended Chinese immigration for ten years, later making the restriction permanent.
733587
In 1924, \nCongress enacted the first law \nlimiting immigration to the United States\n\nhttp://northonline.sccd.ctc.edu/env150ah/730am/Immigration_files/frame.htm#slide0009.htm
1056825
Illegal immigrants make up a huge chunk of the base of the work force, pay taxes (both on their pay and in sales taxes, etc), keep money moving around the system just like anyone who lives here (by buying groceries, gas, clothes, etc), and actually receive less in social services than legal immigrants because they're not able to get many social services without paperwork (despite what certain right-wing lies you might hear).