In 1891 the U.S. Congress passed An Act in Amendment to the Various Acts Relative to Immigration and the Importation of Aliens under Contract or Agreement to Perform Labor, commonly called the Immigration Act of 1891. The purpose of the act was to exclude undesirable immigrants and, perhaps more important, to assert federal control over immigration policy by directing the Treasury Department to establish the Office of the Superintendent of Immigration. In 1895 the title superintendent was changed to commissioner general of immigration, and the office was renamed the Bureau of Immigration.