Resources for the Study of Immigration to the United States

This is a link to the current comprehensive U.S. immigration law, the Immigration Act of 1990. Control + F allows keyword searches.

Findlaw links the researcher to .html text of state and federal legislation, court decisions going back to the American colonial period, and thesis-driven legal research. While laws may be searched by keyword, the name of one of the parties to the case is needed to access court decisions.

Congress.gov provides access to bills currently before the House and Senate and legislation going back to the mid 1970s. A search box on the upper right allows keyword searches, and a set of filters on the left allows researchers to narrow their focus.

The American Presidency Project of the University of California at Santa Barbara provides access to presidential statements since the time of George Washington, searchable by president, type of statement, date, and/ or keyword. It does focus on the presidency, though, so for the president's campaign or extra-presidential career researchers need to consult presidential libraries or other archives.

Whitehouse.gov is the website of the sitting President of the United States. It is where the president announces accomplishments and outlines proposals for the future.

While the Supreme Court seldom rules on immigration, its opinions have shaped US immigration history. Its decision that immigration was a type of interstate commerce that individual states could not regulate took the care of immigrants out of the hands of New York State at Castle Garden and created a federal immigration reception center on Ellis Island. This website explains court procedures and provides access to court decisions back to the 1990s.