Timelines

Migration is a natural part of living systems, and human history is no exception. Yet it remains one of the most debated public issues of our time.

Both people and borders move. Who is allowed to move, and who is granted rights, lies at the heart of how nations define belonging. In Germany and the United States alike, these debates have been deeply intertwined with evolving ideas of race and ethnicity.

These timelines trace how citizenship and belonging have been constructed, challenged, and redefined through laws, social movements, global events, and cultural works — and how those histories continue to shape the present.

1891

Bureau of Immigration & Ellis Island Established

In March 1891, Congress established the Bureau of Immigration, a branch of the U.S. Treasury, to oversee immigration law and enforcement, shifting authority on matters of immigration from the state to federal level. This standardization and federalization of immigration policy has remained controversial today, especially for states along the border that would rather enact their own immigration policies.

In order to implement immigration quota enforcement, the Bureau established an inspection station at Ellis Island in 1892 (inspection stations in Boston, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and San Francisco would follow). During the 1890s, the Bureau also added multiple restrictions on immigration, including a restriction on immigrants who were “likely to become a public charge,” generally interpreted to bar individuals with disabilities from entry. Gradually, this restriction was also used to bar poor but able-bodied individuals—particularly after the Hoover Administration In 1906, the Bureau took responsibility for naturalizing foreign nationals and became known as the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization. In its 60-year history, over twelve million people passed through the portal of the first U.S. federal immigration station at Ellis Island.