History: 79-313: "Unwanted": Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Patterns of Global Migration: Immigration Records of the INS, 1880-1930

Contains a large number of documents that provides a dramatic portrayal of the struggles of Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian aliens to immigrate into the United States--legally or illegally--at the same time that agents of the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, later the Immigration and Naturalization Service, sought to prevent illegal immigration and Congress passed laws to restrict the number of Asians entering the country.

The primary types of documents in the collection are investigative reports by federal agents in the case files on individual aliens; correspondence among agents and government officials involved in immigration issues; and documents by groups advocating or opposing alien exclusion laws and practices.

Contains a large number of documents that provide a dramatic portrayal of the struggles of Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian groups to immigrate into the United States--legally or illegally--at the same time that agents of the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, later the Immigration and Naturalization Service, sought to prevent illegal immigration and Congress passed laws to restrict the number of Asians entering the country.

This collection is a companion to History Vault'sRecords of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Series A: Subject Correspondence Files, Part 1: Asian Immigration and Exclusion, 1906-1913. It includes files dated between 1898 and 1913 that were not filmed with the companion edition as well as files dating later than 1913. Hence, the collection includes documents that date from 1898 to 1941.

approximately 17,000 pages of U.S. Bureau of Immigration case files that offer substantial information on Mexican immigration from 1900 to 1932, during a period when the Mexican-born population of the United States grew from 103,000 to over 1,400,000. The Mexican Revolution, job opportunities during World War I, and long-term transformations in U.S. industry and agriculture all contributed to Mexican immigration to the United States during this time period. Collection materials document the influx of Mexican immigrants across the borders of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, as well as immigrants from other countries who also entered the United States by way of Mexico.

Contains the case files and related correspondence of the U.S. Bureau of Immigration during the period of the greatest inflow of immigrants through the Ellis Island processing facility in upper New York harbor.

Contains a large number of documents on European immigration to the United States. Although the records span the years 1898 through 1936, the bulk of the edition concentrates on the period from 1903 through 1912. The majority of the materials are investigative reports on European immigration.

A large set of primary source materials on the efforts of the federal government, specifically agents of the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (later the Immigration and Naturalization Service), to support the anti-prostitution crusade during the early years of the 20th century.

Contains an invaluable collection of documents on the suppression of aliens in the early 20th century. Most of the material consists of specific case files and focuses on the years 1917-1918, when a concerted push against suspected anarchists and other "undesirable" aliens took place. The focus of the records is on Italian and Russian immigrants in the cities of Milwaukee, Boston, Cleveland, and San Francisco.

Contains a large number of oral histories of immigrants who underwent examination and processing at the Ellis Island facility in upper New York harbor. The National Park Service in cooperation with the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation conducted lengthy interviews with 185 persons who either immigrated through, or worked at, Ellis Island during the peak of mass migration to the United States. The histories were conducted during 1984-1985. Descriptive information for each interview includes the country of origin, place where the immigrant first settled, and alternate spellings or previous versions of the immigrant's name.