Hi Kat! Overall, immigration became more restricted throughout the 1920s. After WWI, the U.S. went through a period of nativism, or anti-immigrant sentiment. Xenophobia towards immigrants was expressed through legislation which restricted or prohibited immigration based on nationality.
In 1921, the Emergency Quota Act was passed by Congress and limited immigration based on the immigrants' birthplaces. The number of immigrants allowed in for each nationality was 3% of the total population of that group in the US in 1890.
In 1924, the Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson Reed Act) reduced this number to 2%. It allowed a higher proportion of immigrants from Western Europe while limiting the numbers of Asian, Italian, Jewish and Slavic immigrants, and banning Japanese immigrants entirely. The Asian Exclusion Act and National Origins Act were both part of the Johnson Reed Act.
