During the 1870s California and the rest of the United States faced hard economic times. Many businesses closed, and many workers lost their jobs. Some people began to blame their problems on the immigrants. They blamed the immigrants for taking their jobs.

Even the Chinese made up only .002 percent of the population, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 in response to the growing anti-Chinese sentiments in California. This law stopped the Chinese from coming to the United States unless they had family members living in the country. This law also prevented the Chinese from becoming citizens of the United States. The 1892 Geary Act renewed the Chinese Exclusion Act for another ten years, and in 1902, Chinese immigration was made permanently illegal. This was the first time that a certain group of people were not allowed to enter the United States. As a result of the Chinese Exclusion Acts the Chinese population sharply declined in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

In 1943, the United States government repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act because China at the time became an ally of the United States during World War II.