In which year did the quota system, aimed at limiting immigration, begin with the Immigration Act?

The Immigration Act of 1924 established the quota system designed to severely limit immigration from certain countries, particularly targeting those from Southern and Eastern Europe as well as Asia. This act created a national origins quota system that allocated immigration visas to two percent of the total number of people from each nationality in the United States as of the 1890 census. The intention behind this legislation was to preserve the ideal of American homogeneity and control the demographic makeup of immigration during a period of rising nativism and xenophobia.

The earlier acts in 1921 introduced temporary quotas but did not establish the long-lasting framework that the 1924 act provided. Thus, while vital immigration legislation occurred in both 1921 and 1920, neither constituted the definitive quota system that became established in 1924. The year 1929 does not pertain to the initial introduction of the quota system but rather followed it, marking an increase in regulations and further restrictions. Hence, the Immigration Act of 1924 is the correct point of reference for the beginning of the quota system aimed at limiting immigration.