3 gen 1882 anni - Congress enacts the Immigration
Act of 1882 (22 Stat. 214),
constituting one the
first attempts at broad federal
oversight of immigration. The law
levies a tax of 50cents for each
passenger arriving by ship from a
foreign port who is not a US citizen,
to be paid by the ship’s owner. The
proceeds are deposited into a fund
in the US Treasury called the
“immigration fund,” which the
Treasury Secretary is authorized
to use to defray expenses incurred
in regulating immigration. The law
further estab