Why did congress pass the chinese exclusion act

In the year 1882, the U.S senate passed the Chinese Exclusion act and was signed by President Chester A. Arthur. During the time period, there was many immigrants, especially Chinese, that immigrated to the United States, which caused a lot of labor. Congress decided to pass this law because a lot of Chinese people were illegally immigrating to the United States and taking away the jobs that the American Citizens wanted. The Act caused the Chinese to be ineligible for naturalization, meaning that they can't become a citizen. Because of the act, the Chinese population in the U.S during that time declined tremendously.

They thought that Chinese where coming as illegal immigrants.

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