There’s not much legislative history out there about the Immigration Act of 1882. In studies of late 19th century immigration laws, it tends to get overshadowed by the earlier Page Act of 1875, the devastating Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, or the more administratively consequential Immigration Act of 1891.

As I was reading the congressional debates on the 1882 Immigration Act this week, though, I found a great drama involving plot, intrigue, and betrayal - or at least some crafty political maneuvering. And drilling down a little, the reasons become pretty apparent.

1882 was the beginning of the “Second Wave” of immigration to the U.S. Politicians on the “border” - then mostly the Port of New York - were clamoring for power to get rid of migrants and federal money to pay for it. Other states weren’t convinced it wasn’t largely political grandstanding.

Sound familiar? This week on How We Got Here, on Substack.