Chinese Exclusion Act Law and Legal Definition
The Chinese Exclusion Act (Act) is a federal legislation that allowed the U.S. to suspend immigration, and also to implement the suspension of Chinese immigration. The Act provided a ban that was intended to last ten years. The increase in competition and animosity towards the Chinese and other foreigners led to the introduction of the Act. There was also wide-spread anti-Chinese legislations and the Chinese Exclusion Act was mainly introduced to support such legislations.
The Act excluded skilled and unskilled Chinese laborers and the Chinese employed in mining from entering the country for ten years In effect, the Act made Chinese immigrants permanent aliens by excluding them from U.S. citizenship.
