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 region. 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.