Other short titles | Asiatic Barred Zone Act |
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Long title | An Act to regulate the immigration of aliens to, and the residence of aliens in, the United States. |
Enacted by | the 64th United States Congress |
Citations | |
Public law | Pub. L. 64–301 |
Statutes at Large | 39 Stat. 874 |
Legislative history | |
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The Immigration Act of 1917 (also known as the Literacy Act or the Burnett Act[1] and less often as the Asiatic Barred Zone Act) was a United States Act that aimed to restrict immigration by imposing literacy tests on immigrants, creating new categories of inadmissible persons, and barring immigration from the Asia-Pacific zone. The most sweeping immigration act the United States had passed until that time it followed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 in marking a turn toward nativism. The 1917 act governed immigration policy until it was amended by the Immigration Act of 1924; both acts were revised by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.