In the 1880s immigration from south, central, and eastern Europe rose dramatically and immigrant populations from this region became more influential in American public policy. A once welcomed group, the Chinese, became the target of restrictive immigration policy, including the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. With the dramatically increasing numbers of all immigrants but most specifically a reaction to Chinese "coolie" labor in the US, a new concern came before congress, the influence that immigrant labor had on the labor market and the native worker.