Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965

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Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (Hart-Celler Act, INS, Act of 1965, Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 89–236)[1] abolished the National Origins Formula that had been in place in the United States since the Immigration Act of 1924. It was proposed by United States Representative Emanuel Celler of New York, co-sponsored by United States Senator Philip Hart of Michigan, and heavily supported by United States Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.[2]

An annual limitation of 300,000 visas was established for immigrants, including 170,000 from Eastern Hemisphere countries, with no more than 20,000 per country. By 1968, the annual limitation from the Western Hemisphere was set at 120,000 immigrants, with visas available on a first-come, first-served basis. However, the number of family reunification visas was unlimited. While as of 2010 there are no quotas for immigrant spouses of US citizens, quotas for other types of relatives of US citizens have since been instituted.[citation needed]

Congressional consideration

October 3, 1965: President Lyndon Johnson visits the Statue of Liberty to sign the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.

The House of Representatives voted 326 to 69 (82.5%) in favor of the act, while the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 76 to 18. Opposition mainly came from conservative Republicans and conservative Democrats. On October 3, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the legislation into law, saying "This [old] system violates the basic principle of American democracy, the principle that values and rewards each man on the basis of his merit as a man. It has been un-American in the highest sense, because it has been untrue to the faith that brought thousands to these shores even before we were a country." The act came into effect on July 1, 1968. Along with the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, it serves as one of the key parts of the United States immigration code to this day.

Ted Kennedy involvement

Immigration reform was an important issue for the Irish community, including President John F Kennedy. For Kennedy's administration, immigration fell under the jurisdiction of second brother, U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy. And when third brother Ted Kennedy was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1962, his first assignment was to shepherd the bill through the Senate as Floor Leader for the bill. During debate on the Senate floor, Kennedy, speaking of the effects of the act, said: "First, our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually. Under the proposed bill, the present level of immigration remains substantially the same.... Secondly, the ethnic mix of this country will not be upset.... Contrary to the charges in some quarters, [the bill] will not inundate America with immigrants from any one country or area, or the most populated and deprived nations of Africa and Asia.... In the final analysis, the ethnic pattern of immigration under the proposed measure is not expected to change as sharply as the critics seem to think.... It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs."[3]

Immigration shift

By equalizing immigration policies, the act resulted in new immigration from non-European nations which changed the ethnic make-up of the United States.[4] Immigration doubled between 1965 and 1970, and doubled again between 1970 and 1990.[2] The most dramatic effect was to shift immigration from Europe to Asia and Central and South America.

Long-term results

A Boston Globe article attributed Barack Obama’s win in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election to a marked reduction over the preceding decades in the percentage of whites in the American electorate, attributing this demographic change to the Act.[4] The article quoted Simon Rosenberg, president and founder of the New Democrat Network, as having said that the Act is "the most important piece of legislation that no one’s ever heard of," and that it "set America on a very different demographic course than the previous 300 years."[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ Hart-Celler Act, INS, Act of 1965, Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) [https://uslaw.link/citation/us-law/public/89/236 89–236]
  2. ^ a b Frum, David (2000). How We Got Here: The '70s. New York, New York: Basic Books. pp. 268–269. ISBN 0465041957. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. ^ (U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization of the Committee on the Judiciary, Washington, D.C., Feb. 10, 1965. pp. 1-3.)
  4. ^ a b c Peter S. Canellos (November 11, 2008). Obama victory took root in Kennedy-inspired Immigration Act. The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-11-14.(subscription required)

External links

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