<P> After the immigration of 123,000 Chinese in the 1870s , who joined the 105,000 who had immigrated between 1850 and 1870 , Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 which targeted a single ethnic group by specifically limiting further Chinese immigration . Chinese had immigrated to the Western United States as a result of unsettled conditions in China , the availability of jobs working on railroads , and the Gold Rush that was going on at that time in California . The expression `` Yellow Peril '' became popular at this time . </P>
the first significant restriction on free immigration in u.s. history was the
Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882