<P> It provided that no alien ineligible to become a citizen could be admitted to the United States as an immigrant . This was aimed primarily at Japanese and Chinese aliens . It imposed fines on transportation companies who landed aliens in violation of U.S. immigration laws . It defined the term "immigrant" and designated all other alien entries into the United States as "non-immigrant", that is, temporary visitors . It established classes of admission for such non-immigrants . </P> <P> A limitation on Southern and Eastern European immigration was first proposed in 1909 by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge . </P> <P> In the wake of the Post-World War I recession, many Americans believed that bringing in more immigrants from other nations would only make the unemployment rate higher . The Red Scare of 1919--1921 had fueled xenophobic fears of foreign radicals migrating to undermine American values and provoke an uprising like Russia's 1917 Bolshevik Revolution . The number of immigrants entering the United States decreased for about a year from July 1919 to June 1920 but also doubled the year after that . </P> <P> Congressman Albert Johnson and Senator David Reed were the two main architects of the act . In the wake of intense lobbying, the Act passed with strong congressional support . There were nine dissenting votes in the Senate and a handful of opponents in the House, the most vigorous of whom was freshman Brooklyn Representative and Jewish - American Emanuel Celler . Over the succeeding four decades, Celler made the repeal of the Act his personal crusade . </P>

The national origins quota act of 1924 limited the number of immigrants