Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America, 1919 (2007)

The United States Immigration Act of 1918 (ch. 186, 40 Stat. 1012) was enacted on October 16, 1918.[1] It is also known as the Dillingham-Hardwick Act.[2] It was intended to correct what President Woodrow Wilson's administration considered to be deficiencies in previous laws, in order to enable the government to deport undesirable aliens, specifically anarchists, communists, labor organizers, and similar activists.
Background

During the Great War, officials at the Department of Justice were frustrated in their attempts to suppress anarchist activity by their inability to gain convictions of even self-professed anarchists under current legislation, notably the Immigration Act of 1903 (also known as the Anarchist Exclusion Act) and the Immigration Act of 1917.[3] U.S. authorities in President Woodrow Wilson's administration determined that their best opportunity to detain and remove foreign-born anarchists, antiwar protesters, and members of radical labor unions such as the Industrial Workers of the World, from the United States lay in the authority of the Department of Immigration to deport individuals under an extremely broad definition of anarchism. They could use administrative procedures that did not require due process in courts of law.[3]

Working together, officials at the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Immigration drafted legislation designed to remedy the defects in current legislation. They defined anarchism broadly enough to cover all forms of activity related to its advocacy, including membership in or affiliation with any organization or group that advocated opposition to all forms of organized government.[3] The new legislation removed the protection in prior law that aliens (persons without citizenship) who had resided in the United States for more than 5 years were not subject to deportation.[3] The bill quickly was passed by the House of Representatives. While waiting for Senate action, representatives of the two sponsoring government agencies held meetings to develop a strategy for handling the "disposition of cases of alien anarchists, some of whom are Italian anarchists and others Industrial Workers of the World and Russian Union workers, now pending."[3]

Senator William Borah of Idaho was one of the few opposed, but he was not prepared to try to prevent a vote. The Senate passed a bill that included additional punishment for anyone deported who returned to the United States. The punishment for that was a prison term of 5 years, followed by deportation once again.[3]
Definition of anarchist

The act expanded and elaborated the brief definition found in the Anarchist Exclusion Act 15 years earlier to read:[3]

(a) aliens who are anarchists;
(b) aliens who advise, advocate, or teach, or who are members of, or affiliated with, any organization, society, or group, that advises, advocates, or teaches opposition to all organized government;
(c) aliens who believe in, advise, advocate, or teach, or who are members of, or affiliated with, any organization, association, society, or group, that believes in, advises, advocates, or teaches:

(1) the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States or of all forms of law, or
(2) the duty, necessity, or propriety of the unlawful assaulting or killing of any officer or officers, either of specific individuals or of officers generally, of the Government of the United States or of any other organized government, because of his or their official character, or
(3) the unlawful damage, injury, or destruction of property, or
(4) sabotage;

(d) aliens who write, publish, or cause to be written or published, or who knowingly circulate, distribute, print, or display, or knowingly cause to be circulated, distributed, printed, or displayed, or knowingly have in their possession for the purpose of circulation, distribution, publication, or display any written or printed matter, advising, advocating, or teaching opposition to all government, or advising, advocating, or teaching:

(1) the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States or of all forms of law, or
(2) the duty, necessity, or propriety of the unlawful assaulting or killing of any officer or officers of the Government of the United States or of any other government, or
(3) the unlawful damage, injury, or destruction of property, or
(4) sabotage;

(e) aliens who are members of, or affiliated with, any organization, association, society, or group, that writes, circulates, distributes, prints, publishes, or displays, or causes to be written, circulated, distributed, printed, published, or displayed, or that has in its possession for the purpose of circulation, distribution, publication, or display, any written or printed matter of the character in subdivision (d).

Effects

In 1919, The New York Times reported that in the fiscal year 1918, two anarchists were denied entry to the U.S., 37 were deported, and 55 were awaiting deportation.[4] The Times published an editorial that contrasted those low numbers with the degree of public disturbance across the country by activists: "It appears to be difficult to find alien anarchists. Yet those in the United States seldom practice long either silence or concealment."[4]

Among the more notorious anarchists deported under the Act were Luigi Galleani and several of his adherents.[3] Galleani's followers, known as Galleanists, were responsible for a bombing campaign that would last from 1914 until 1932. It reached its peak in the deadly bombing campaigns of 1919[5] and Wall Street bombing in 1920.[6] Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, both resident aliens, were among 250 aliens deported in 1919 pursuant to the Act. They had been convicted because of their encouragement of men to resist draft registration and conscription.[3][7]

After more than 4,000 alleged anarchists were arrested for deportation under the act, the Department of Labor released most of those arrested. Acting Secretary of Labor Louis Freeland Post was threatened with impeachment for his department's findings in favor of continued residence in the US of persons charged in deportation cases.[8] A total of 556 persons were eventually deported under the Immigration Act of 1918.[9] The exclusion of anarchist immigrants was recodified with the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. By the late 20th century, the threat was believed reduced. Such provisions were largely repealed by the Immigration Act of 1990. Current U.S. immigration law does not explicitly mention anarchists, but anarchists are still banned from becoming U.S. citizens.
See also

Anarchist economics
Anarchy in International Relations
Fourteen Points
League of Nations
USAT Buford
Wartime Measure Act of 1918
Wilsonianism

Notes

The New York Times: Remsen Crawford, "New Immigrant Net: How Other Causes Have Anticipated Effect of the Dillingham Act," July 10, 1921, accessed July 13, 2010
Porche, Demetrius James (February 10, 2011). Health policy : application for nurses and other healthcare professionals. Jones & Bartlett Learning. p. 259. ISBN 978-0763783136.
Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton: Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-02604-1, ISBN 978-0-691-02604-6 (1991), pp. 130-136
"Alien Anarchists" (newspaper). The New York Times. December 15, 1919. p. 14. Retrieved 2007-07-12.
Ann Hagedorn, Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America, 1919 (NY: Simon & Schuster, 2007), 184-5, 218-22
Gage, Beverly, The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in its First Age of Terror (NY: Oxford University Press, 2009)
Robert K. Murray, Red Scare: A Study in National Hysteria, 1919-1920 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1955), 206-8
Stanley Coben, A. Mitchell Palmer: Politician (NY: Columbia University Press, 1963), 233-4; Louis F. Post, The Deportations Delirium of Nineteen-Twenty: A Personal Narrative of an Historic Official Experience (NY, 1923), 243-4

Carrier, Jerry (2015). Hard Right Turn: The History and the Assassination of the American Left. Algora Publishing. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-62894-179-1.

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Woodrow Wilson

28th President of the United States (1913–1921) 34th Governor of New Jersey (1911–1913) 13th President of Princeton University (1902–1910)

Presidency
(timeline)

Transition 1913 inauguration 1917 inauguration Roosevelt desk Judicial appointments
Supreme Court nominees Louis Brandeis Supreme Court nomination Cabinet 1919 Nobel Peace Prize 19th Amendment
Silent Sentinels Woman Suffrage Procession State of the Union Address 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1920

Foreign policy

Wilsonianism Bryan–Chamorro Treaty (1914) Occupation of Haiti (1915–1934) Occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916–1924) Army Appropriations Act of 1916
Council of National Defense Philippine Autonomy Act (1916) World War I
1917–1918; entry campaigns home front Committee on Public Information Four Minute Men Fourteen Points The Inquiry American Commission to Negotiate Peace Armistice of 11 November 1918 Espionage Act of 1917 Immigration Act of 1917 Selective Service Act of 1917 Immigration Act of 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 National War Labor Board (1918) Sedition Act of 1918 Wartime Measure Act of 1918 Paris Peace Conference
1919–1920; Racial Equality Proposal Pueblo speech (1919) Treaty of Versailles
1919; Big Four League of Nations
1920; charter Wilsonian Armenia (1920)

New Freedom

Federal racial segregation Federal Reserve Act
1913; Federal Reserve Newlands Labor Act
1913; Board of Mediation and Conciliation Raker Act (1913) Revenue Act of 1913
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1916; Farm Credit System Federal Farm Loan Board Flag Day (1916) Fraudulent Advertising Act of 1916 Keating–Owen Act (1916) National Park Service Organic Act
1916; National Park Service Revenue Act of 1916 Rural Post Roads Act of 1916 Smith Act (1916) Stock-Raising Homestead Act (1916) United States Grain Standards Act of 1916 Warehouse Act of 1916 Wildlife Game Refuges Act of 1916 Flood Control Act of 1917 Smith–Hughes Act
1917; U.S. Federal Board for Vocational Education United States Railroad Administration
1917; USRA standard War Revenue Act of 1917 Revenue Act of 1918 Acadia National Park Act of 1919 Grand Canyon Park Act of 1919 Red Summer (1919) Wheat Price Guarantee Act (1919) Esch–Cummins Act
1920; Railroad Labor Board Federal Power Act
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Life

Birthplace and Presidential Library
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Books

Congressional Government (1900) When a Man Comes to Himself (1901) The New Freedom (1913)

Elections

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Legacy
(memorials)

Bibliography Woodrow Wilson Awards Woodrow Wilson Foundation Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
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Popular
culture

Wilson (1944 film) Profiles in Courage (1965 series) Backstairs at the White House (1979 miniseries) Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of the American Century (2002 documentary) Wilson (2013 book) Suffs (2022 musical)

Family

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Related

Progressive Era Jefferson Literary and Debating Society Woodrow Wilson and race

← William Howard Taft Warren G. Harding →

Category

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Immigration to the United States and related topics
Relevant colonial era,
United States and
international laws

Colonial era

Nationality law in the American Colonies Plantation Act 1740

18th century

Naturalization Act 1790 / 1795 / 1798

19th century

Naturalization Law 1802 Act to Encourage Immigration (1864) Civil Rights Act of 1866 14th Amendment (1868) Naturalization Act 1870 Page Act (1875) Immigration Act of 1882 Chinese Exclusion (1882) Scott Act (1888) Immigration Act of 1891 Geary Act (1892)

1900–1949

Immigration Act 1903 Naturalization Act 1906 Gentlemen's Agreement (1907) Immigration Act 1907 Immigration Act 1917 (Asian Barred Zone) Immigration Act 1918 Emergency Quota Act (1921) Cable Act (1922) Immigration Act 1924 Tydings–McDuffie Act (1934) Filipino Repatriation Act (1935) Nationality Act of 1940 Bracero Program (1942–1964) Magnuson Act (1943) War Brides Act (1945) Alien Fiancées and Fiancés Act (1946) Luce–Celler Act (1946)

1950–1999

UN Refugee Convention (1951) Immigration and Nationality Act 1952 / 1965
Section 212(f) Section 287(g) Refugee Act (1980) Immigration Reform and Control Act (1986) American Homecoming Act (1989) Immigration Act 1990 Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act (INTCA) 1994 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) (1996) Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) (1997) American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act (ACWIA) (1998)

21st century

American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act (AC21) (2000) Legal Immigration Family Equity Act (LIFE Act) (2000) H-1B Visa Reform Act (2004) Real ID Act (2005) Secure Fence Act (2006) DACA (2012) Executive Order 13769 (2017) Executive Order 13780 (2017) Ending Discriminatory Bans on Entry to The United States (2021)

Visas and policies

Visa policy
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Family Unaccompanied children Trump administration family separation policy

Government
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Supreme Court cases

US v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) Ozawa v. US (1922) US v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923) US v. Brignoni-Ponce (1975) Zadvydas v. Davis (2001) Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting (2011) Barton v. Barr (2020) DHS v. Regents of the Univ. of Cal. / Wolf v. Vidal (2020) Niz-Chavez v. Garland (2021) Sanchez v. Mayorkas (2021) Department of State v. Muñoz (2024)

Related issues
and events

2006 protests Brooks County, Texas Central American migrant caravans Economic impact Effects Eugenics in the United States Guest worker program Human trafficking Human smuggling
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Geography

Mexico–United States border Canada–United States border United States Border Patrol interior checkpoints

Proposed legislation

DREAM Act (2001–2010) H.R. 4437 (2005) McCain–Kennedy (2005) Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act 2006 STRIVE Act (2007) Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act 2007 Uniting American Families Act (2000–2013) Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 SAFE Act (2015) RAISE Act (2017) US Citizenship Act of 2021

Immigration stations
and points of entry

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Operations

"Wetback" (1954) "Peter Pan" (1960–1962) "Babylift" (1975) "Gatekeeper" (1994) "Endgame" (2003–2012) "Front Line" (2004–2005) "Streamline" (2005–present) "Return to Sender" (2006–2007) "Jump Start" (2006–2008) "Phalanx" (2010–2016) "Faithful Patriot" (2018–present)

State legislation

California DREAM Act (2006–2010) Arizona SB 1070 (2010) Alabama HB 56 (2011)

Non-governmental
organizations

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Documentaries

Borderland (TV series) Missing in Brooks County

Categories:

1918 in American lawAnti-anarchism in the United StatesPolitical repression in the United StatesUnited States federal immigration and nationality legislation