[2] The Chinese Exclusion Act, passed in 1882, is considered to be the first United States policy that restricted immigration, which had previously been allowed without constraint.

[3] Following that pivotal piece of legislation, the administrations of William McKinley (1897-1901) and Theodore Roosevelt (1901-9) were characterized by an increase in the federal government's monitoring and regulating of immigration.

[6] This period before the act was passed signaled that the United States government was interested in restricting those types of immigrants that would be viewed as undesirable.

The 1907 act, however, changed the language to "likely to become a public charge" which Douglas Baynton argues "considerably lowered the threshold for exclusions and expanded the latitude of immigration officials to deny entry.

[7] This addition of multiple disabilities and specific diseases within the language of the legislation expanded the power of commissioners and medical examiners to determine and turn away those seen to be unsuited for entry into the United States on the basis of their mental and physical status.

Other measures included a section twelve provision that required that incoming ships detail the age, gender, national origin, occupation, and place of residence of all passengers[7] that were coming into the United States to allow a more through registry of departures that could be used for statistical purposes.