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History of US ImmigrationWhile Indigenous peoples predated Europeans in the region by thousands of years, colonial settlers mainly came from Britain and Western Europe, some of whom brought, or bought, enslaved Africans. Later waves brought Irish, German, and Chinese immigrants in the mid-19th century, followed by a large influx from southern and Eastern Europe between 1880 and 1920. Immigration slowed afterward due to restrictive laws that set quotas based on national origin.
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 ended the national-origins quota system that favored Europeans, allowing more immigrants from Asia, Africa, and Latin America—an outcome its own sponsors did not predict. Immigration is the main driver of US population growth, accounting for 84% of the nation's increase from July 2023 to July 2024. Immigrants generated about $1.7T in economic activity in 2023. As of June 2025, 51.9 million immigrants lived in the United States, representing 15.4% of the total population.
Enforcement of immigration laws today mainly falls to the Department of Homeland Security and its subagencies—Customs and Border Protection, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement—which use physical barriers, deportations, and interior enforcement to regulate immigration. Today, individuals can legally immigrate to the United States through family sponsorship or employment-based visas, or by seeking asylum or refugee status. Immigration has become a key issue in US politics after record border encounters from 2021 to 2024, followed by aggressive enforcement policies during President Donald Trump's second term. Explore History of US Immigration
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Track the changes in US immigration law throughout historyThis interactive timeline tracks the development of US immigration law, overlaid with time-series data on percentages of the foreign-born population. Explore how each major policy development correlated with immigration levels, revealing the relationship between legislation and demographic change. Pew Research CenterExplore the important legislation that has shaped US immigration policy Read about pivotal immigration legislation from the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act—the first law restricting immigration by nationality—through DACA, examining how economic conditions, national security concerns, and social attitudes shaped American immigration policy throughout history. Council on Foreign RelationsThe Pearl Harbor attack led to the mass internment of Japanese AmericansIn the months after Pearl Harbor, the US forcibly removed and incarcerated about 120,000 Japanese Americans—two-thirds of them citizens. Driven by fear and racism, the policy is now recognized as a grave violation of civil rights. Densho: Japanese American Incarceration and Japanese InternmentMany Christians observe a different theme for each week of AdventMany churches structure Advent around weekly themes—often hope, peace, joy, and love—which shape sermons, prayers, Scripture readings, and the lighting of candles on the Advent wreath. The specific themes vary widely across denominations and communities. Harvard UniversityAmateur engineers built America’s first great infrastructure projectWith no engineering schools in the US, the Erie Canal was designed and built by self-taught amateurs who improvised new methods and became known as the “Erie School of Engineering.” HISTORYIrish immigrants deserted the US Army to fight for MexicoDuring the Mexican-American War, hundreds of Irish Catholic immigrants—facing discrimination in the US Army—defected to Mexico and formed the Saint Patrick’s Battalion. Though many were captured and executed, they remain honored as heroes in Mexico. Smithsonian Magazine
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