19. The United States once banned all Chinese immigration to its shores
Chinese laborers were once brought to the United States to work in mines and on railroads. Most came without their wives and families, and in the second half of the 19th century, many attempted to bring their families to America after becoming settled there. In 1875 the United States banned the immigration of Chinese women via the Page Act. In 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, banning the immigration of Chinese laborers. It was signed by President Chester Arthur into law on May 6 of that year, with a scheduled expiration date established ten years later. When that date approached the law was extended for another ten years.
Over the period that the law was enforced, Congress passed additional laws to further limit the ability of Chinese from entering the United States. Those who had been in America when the law was passed and left for any reason were denied the ability to return by legislation. Chinese immigrants who had arrived legally were given the status of permanent aliens, with the opportunity to become American citizens denied them. The Supreme Court upheld the Act as Constitutional (1889) despite heavy criticism from some members of Congress. The act was not repealed until 1943, when the United States and China were allies in the Pacific War against Japan.