Note : This excerpt is about what was happening after the US Immigration Act of 1924 that was more restrictive than that of 1921. The government felt that America was overloading with the unskilled laborers that had come in previous decades.
EXCERPT: The U.S. Immigration Act of 1924 was even more restrictive than that of 1921. The total number of European immigrants now allowed in annually was slashed to 161,5000 in any one year. By comparison, in 1913. 1.141 million European immigrants had been admitted to the U.S. In addition, visas were now required, and those were issued by US Consular offices in the countries of origin. Any shipping line bringing in an immigrant without a visa, or surplus to the annual quota allowed to that country, could face a punitive $1000 penalty. Immigration figures plummeted though some nations were still favored over others: British and Irish-born immigrants were allowed a generous proportion of the annual European allocation, and anglophones with valuable skills, such as British-born servants or nurses, were actively encouraged to emigrate to the North American continent. (page 76)
Would-be immigrants could be deported if they showed signs of physical or mental illness, but less well known is the discrimination against the illiterate. Adults arriving at Ellis Island were required to read out loud forty words of a printed language - any language -; a wide variety of texts were supplied - to prove they were literate. This discrimination policy often split up families, and it particularly effected women from remote and traditional communities in eastern Europe, who were less likely to have been taught to read (page 78)
