The United States of America on the Way to Restrictionism in Immigration Policy (The Second Half of the 19th – Early 20th Century)

The article examines the reasons and arguments that influenced and justified the adoption of the restrictive policy of the USA in the 20th century. Reliance on the reports of the USA Congress, census data, publications of contemporaries, political and scientific leaders of the country, as well as periodicals allowed us to consider the dynamics of the development of USA migration policy in the 19th – 20th centuries. A key factor in the dissemination of demands to limit migration flows has become a mental construct based on stereotypes, private experiences and position covered in the media. The feeling of threat from the American society was justified by the differences in the culture, language, and customs of migrants, which prevented high-quality integration into the host society. The peculiarities of the economic situation of the United States, taking into account cyclical crises, provided a rational explanation for the introduction of a restrictive migration policy.