What did the quota act and national origins act do?

The Quota Act of 1921 and the National Origins Act of 1924 were U.S. Immigration laws that established restrictive quotas on the number of immigrants allowed to enter the country. The Quota Act limited immigration based on national origins, allowing only a certain percentage of immigrants from each country based on the 1890 census. The National Origins Act further tightened these restrictions, prioritizing immigrants from Northern and Western European countries while severely limiting those from Southern and Eastern Europe, as well as excluding Asian immigrants altogether. These laws reflected the nativist sentiments of the time and aimed to preserve the existing demographic composition of the United States.