Guarding the Golden Door by Roger Daniels provides an overview of the complex American immigration policies and legislation during the period 1882 through 9/11/2001. History reveals deep prejudices and hypocrisy in the ways we have treated “others” regarding immigration, and Daniels shines a light on some of the most egregious practices. As Daniels says, America has had a love/hate relationship with its immigrant population, on the one hand reveling in the nation’s immigrant past while, on the other, rejecting the immigrant present (6). We have been a nation of nativists while refusing to recognize the fact that we are not even the true natives of this country. We profess to honor our immigrant past but also refuse to recognize the way we treat ideas around immigration, both legal and not, in the present. My goal in this paper is to provide a review which will include a summary of the attitudes toward immigration prior to the Civil War, a discussion of significant changes in policy from 1882 through 1965, and a discussion of the influence of the events of 9/11 on immigration policy. From the start of colonization in America, it was apparent that immigration was a requirement to populate the new country (Daniels 6). Politicians recognized the value of immigration for the most part and enacted few immigration and naturalization…show more content… It added new categories of aliens who could be excluded, including persons who were likely to become public charges. There were new border procedures, which for the first time included the land borders with Canada and Mexico, and it created the Office of the Superintendent of Immigration to coordinate enforcement. The immigrant inspection station at Ellis Island in New York opened in 1892 and medical examinations to exclude and detain those with medical conditions were performed there (Daniels
