--- title: Mexican Immigration to the U.S.: History Behind a Debate description: Debates over immigration, particularly from Mexico, may seem like an inescapable part of American politics—but that wasn't always the case. canonical: https://time.com/4411701/immigration-policy-history/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-09T19:00:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-06T09:46:01.337Z article:section: History og:title: Mexican Immigration to the U.S.: History Behind a Debate og:description: Set limits on Western Hemisphere immigration only began in the 1960s og:url: https://time.com/4411701/immigration-policy-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31f15ec128997761/69889cdae20a872833a91ad7/immigration.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Mexican Border og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mexican Immigration to the U.S.: History Behind a Debate twitter:description: Set limits on Western Hemisphere immigration only began in the 1960s twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31f15ec128997761/69889cdae20a872833a91ad7/immigration.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Forgotten History Behind America's Immigration Debate > Sponsored content. 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Its journalism is reported and edited by a professional newsroom led by Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs, with named correspondents on politics, climate, health, technology and culture. It reaches 1 million US print subscribers and 1.15 million globally, plus more than 1.1 million newsletter readers. #### How do I subscribe to TIME magazine? Subscriptions are at time.com/subscribe-agent. Choose digital only at $20 a year, or print and digital from $29 a year or $49 for two years. TIME also publishes seven free email newsletters at time.com/newsletters, which do not require a subscription. #### Can I cancel a TIME subscription? Yes. TIME states that subscriptions can be cancelled at any time. #### Does TIME have free newsletters? Yes. TIME publishes seven free email newsletters reaching more than 1.1 million readers, covering daily news, Washington politics, health, AI, climate and energy, culture, and the newsroom itself. They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=e8aa4070-5a44-44c0-813f-0bd3dbaa8efa&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=e8aa4070-5a44-44c0-813f-0bd3dbaa8efa&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How the U.S. Got to Today’s Immigration Debate [Watch (HLS stream): How the U.S. Got to Today’s Immigration Debate](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/XG8U6QyO.m3u8) (2:29)  _Published 2016-08-09. Historian David Reimers takes a look the history of immigration policy in the U.S. and how it has evolved over the years._ by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) and [Arpita Aneja](https://time.com/author/arpita-aneja/) Aug 9, 2016 7:00 PM UTC by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) and [Arpita Aneja](https://time.com/author/arpita-aneja/) Aug 9, 2016 7:00 PM UTC These days, debates over [immigration](http://time.com/4389128/the-immigrants-fate-is-everyones/) may seem like an inescapable and constant part of American politics. From the [Supreme Court](http://time.com/4411814/supreme-court-obama-immigration-case/) to the [Presidential election](http://time.com/4342885/donald-trump-immigration-hispanic-evangelicals/), everyone has an opinion about how to fix a system that many perceive as broken. But as immigration historian [David Reimers](http://history.fas.nyu.edu/object/reimers) tells TIME, that’s not actually the case. The current debate over immigration–especially when it comes to [immigration from Mexico—](http://time.com/3742067/history-mexican-immigration/)is largely a product of the 20th century. “For so much of our history, immigrants just sort of came in,” says Reimers, a professor emeritus of history at NYU. “We had a very loose border with Mexico.” Here, he takes TIME through some of the major moments that created the immigration debate as we understand it today. The U.S. government only started counting immigrants in the early 19th century, and it wasn’t until the 1870s that the Supreme Court [declared](https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/92/275/case.html) that immigration was a federal concern. The border patrol traces its roots to concerns over prohibition-era liquor smuggling. [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter) The system set up in the 1920s favored nationalities that were already represented in the U.S. population, because it [based annual visa quotas](https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act) on the 1910 census. But it only pertained to the Eastern hemisphere. Changes starting in [1965](http://time.com/4050914/1965-immigration-act-pew/) eliminated some of the discrimination that had been baked into that system, and the Western hemisphere was given a limit for the first time. Although there have been changes since then, Reimers argues that system is essentially the one in place today. “We have eleven million undocumented immigrants today. They’re practically all from the Western Hemisphere,” Reimers says. “If you would have not had that quota, I would argue, most of those people would be legal.” ## Transcript We're gonna build the wall, we're gonna create a border. We're gonna let people in, but they're gonna come in legally. And Mexico's gonna pay for the wall. I'm not gonna pay for that [ NOISE ] wall. So much of our history, immigrants just came and sort of came in. The Mexican situation really is very, very loose. The border was even ill defined for a number of years. 1924 the federal government set up a Border Patrol, it consisted mainly of a few rangers on horseback patrolling the boarder. They were more concerned about liquor, because it was the time of Prohibition, being smuggled in from Mexico. The people who owned the big growers Are the big railroads wanted that cheap labor to come in and they argued, well they'll come in, they'll work for six months on the railroads, repairing them, and then go home. Finally, they set up a National Origin System. It really favored the people that had been here for many many generations. [ MUSIC ] The 1965 Act First of all for the eastern hemisphere it got rid of all of the national origins. It gave every country in the eastern hemisphere 20, 000 slots. For the western hemisphere it just said 120, 000. Mexico had been sent about half. Of 120, 000. So, now other countries were gonna push into that. I can't tell you how many times I read in books, the 1965 Act opened the door for mass Latino immigration, well, it really didn't. It tried to contain Hispanic immigration. But in 1970s, Congress put in a new system which gave a worldwide system, every country, 20, 000, 120, 000 western hemisphere. 170 here, it as merged to one, 290, 000. All of business about Muslims and Mexicans and their religious issue. It's old but it's like kind of racist argument. That they're inferior The drug people. So, that has a familiar tone. [ APPLAUSE ]. The last attempt to do anything was in 2006. And, since that time, the Republicans just dug in their feet, and are not going to pass any kind of immigration legislation, unless it's to have more border patrol. Are to build more fences. 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