<Ul> <Li> Signed into law by President Chester A. Arthur on August 3, 1882 </Li> </Ul> <Li> Signed into law by President Chester A. Arthur on August 3, 1882 </Li> <P> The Immigration Act of 1882 was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on August 3, 1882 . It imposed a head tax on noncitizens of the United States who came to American ports and restricted certain classes of people from immigrating to America, including criminals, the insane, or "any person unable to take care of him or herself ." The act created what is recognized as the first federal immigration bureaucracy and laid the foundation for more regulations on immigration, such as the Immigration Act of 1891 . </P> <P> Prior to the passage of the Immigration Act of 1882, the United States Congress had passed two significant acts regarding immigration . The first was the Page Act of 1875, which restricted the immigration of forced laborers coming from Asia . This had a major effect on the immigration of Asian indentured workers and women; specifically women presumed to be immigrating to work as prostitutes . The second was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 . This act halted all legal immigration of Chinese laborers and is considered by many to be the first major exclusionary immigration restriction on an entire nationality enacted by the United States . While both of these acts resulted from public fear of the Chinese influence in the labor market and the economy, they also derived from simple prejudice and the public perception of these immigrants' inability to assimilate into American culture . </P>

When did america pass its first immigration law