Why did the writer jump over “import persons”?
The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.
I am somewhat concerned that you would cite the above provision of our Constitution when the provision in question was addressed by Mr. Madison in Federalist No. 42 and he specifically explains its intention is ” to prohibit, after the year 1808, the importation of slaves, and to lay an intermediate duty of ten dollars per head, as a discouragement to such importations.”
The irrefutable fact is, the provision you cite was never intended by its authors, nor the States when ratifying the Constitution, to remotely suggest that immigration was to be regulated by the federal government.
JWK
"On every question of construction [of the Constitution], carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed."--Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, June 12, 1823, The Complete Jefferson, p. 322.