Exclusion Act of 1924

Immigration Act of 1924

Nicknames	Johnson-Reed Act
Enacted by	the 68th United States Congress
Effective	May 26, 1924
Legislative history
Introduced in the House of Representatives as H.R. 7995 Passed the House on April 12, 1924 (323-71) Agreed to by the House on May 15, 1924 (308-62) and by the Senate on May 15, 1924 (69-9) Signed into law by President Calvin Coolidge on May 24, 1924

The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the National Origins Act, and Asian Exclusion Act (Pub.L. 68–139, 43 Stat. 153, enacted May 26, 1924), was a United States federal law that limited the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the United States as of the 1890 census, down from the 3% cap set by the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, which used the Census of 1910. The law was primarily aimed at further restricting immigration of Southern Europeans and Eastern Europeans, especially Italians and Eastern European Jews. In addition, it severely restricted the immigration of Africans and banned the immigration of Arabs and Asians.

According to the U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian the purpose of the act was "to preserve the ideal of American homogeneity". But though the Act aimed at preserving American racial homogeneity, it set no limits on immigration from other countries of the Americas. Congressional opposition was minimal. According to Columbia University historian Mae Ngai, the 1924 Act put an end to a period where the United States essentially had open borders.

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