Over the next few decades the list of mental and physical defects to disqualify one for entry was increased. The 1891 Immigration Act changed the designation from one unable to take care of oneself, to likely to become a public charge. The expansion continued in 1903, 1907, and 1917 to exclude epilepsy, anyone who had been insane in the past five years, “imbeciles,” “idiots,” “feeble-minded persons,” “abnormal sex instincts,” and more generally, “such mental or physical defect being of a nature which may affect the ability of such alien to earn a living.”
From “Trump Reintroduces An Immigration Policy With A Dark Past,” for Arc Digital
