History

• The Alien Contract Labor Act was part of a response by Congress to the importation of foreign laborers, especially from China, to work in the United States. It followed on the heels of the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Immigration Act, both passed in 1882.
  
  

Enforcement

• The original law did not contain an enforcement mechanism, so an amendment was passed in 1887 requiring the secretary of labor to enforce the act and send prohibited persons back to their countries of origin.
  
  

Immigration Service and Ellis Island

• The new immigration laws passed in the 1880s, including the Alien Contract Labor law, resulted in the creation of the Federal Immigration Service and the stationing of inspectors at Ellis Island in New York Harbor.
  
  

Act Repealed

• The Congress essentially repealed the Alien Contract Labor Act and the Chinese Exclusion Act by instituting a new system in 1952.
  
  

Current Law

• The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 reorganized immigration law. Although often amended, according to U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services, it is still the structure used for current immigration law.