Examine individual changes

'{{Infobox U.S. legislation | name = Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 | fullname = An Act to amend the Immigration and Naturalization Act, and for other purposes. | colloquialacronym = INA of 1965 | nickname = Hart–Celler Act | effective date = June 30, 1968 | congress = 89 | lawordinal = 236 | statsvol = 79 | statspage = 911 | acts amended = [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952]] | title amended = [[Title 8 of the United States Code|8 U.S.C.: Aliens and Nationality]] | sections created = | sections amended = {{Usc-title-chap|8|12}} (§§ 1101, 1151–1157, 1181–1182, 1201, 1254–1255, 1259, 1322, 1351) | leghisturl = | introducedin = House of Representatives | introducedbill = {{USBill|89|H.R.|2580}} | introducedby = Rep. [[Emanuel Celler]] ([[Democratic Party (United States)|D]]-[[New York|NY]]) | introduceddate = | committees = [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Judiciary]] | passedbody1 = House | passeddate1 = August 25, 1965 | passedvote1 = [http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/89-1965/h125 318-95] | passedbody2 = Senate | passedas2 = <!-- used if the second body changes the name of the legislation --> | passeddate2 = September 22, 1965 | passedvote2 = [http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/89-1965/s232 76-18] | conferencedate = | passedbody3 = House | passeddate3 = September 30, 1965 | passedvote3 = [http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/89-1965/h177 320-70] | agreedbody3 = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee --> | agreeddate3 = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee --> | agreedvote3 = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee --> | agreedbody4 = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation --> | agreeddate4 = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation --> | agreedvote4 = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation --> | passedbody4 = | passeddate4 = | passedvote4 = | signedpresident = [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] | signeddate = October 3, 1965 | amendments = | SCOTUS cases = }} The '''Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965''' ({{USStatute|89|236|79|911|1968|06|30}}), also known as the '''Hart–Celler Act''',<ref name="uwb">{{cite web | url = http://library.uwb.edu/guides/usimmigration/1965_immigration_and_nationality_act.html | title = US immigration legislation online | accessdate = January 1, 2012 | author = Sarah Starkweather | publisher = University of Washington, Bothell Library}}</ref> abolished the [[National Origins Formula]] that had been in place in the [[United States]] since the [[Emergency Quota Act]]. It was proposed by Representative [[Emanuel Celler]] of [[New York]], co-sponsored by Senator [[Philip Hart]] of [[Michigan]], and promoted by Senator [[Ted Kennedy]] of [[Massachusetts]]. The Hart-Celler Act abolished the national origins quota system that was American immigration policy since the 1920s, replacing it with a preference system that focused on immigrants' skills and family relationships with citizens or U.S. residents. Numerical restrictions on visas were set at 170,000 per year, with a per-country-of-origin quota, not including immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, nor "special immigrants" (including those born in "independent" nations in the [[Western Hemisphere]], [[list of former United States citizens who relinquished their nationality|former citizens]], ministers, and employees of the U.S. government abroad).<ref name="uwb" /> ==Background== The 1965 act marked a radical break from the immigration policies of the past. The law as it stood then excluded Latin Americans, Asians and Africans and preferred northern and western Europeans over southern and eastern ones.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.getnside.com/sa/magazine/business/current/articles/2771-A_Nation_of_Immigrants/|title=A Nation of Immigrants|date=September 2012|magazine=NSIDE SA}}</ref> At the height of the [[African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–68)|civil rights movement of the 1960s]] the law was seen as an embarrassment by, among others, President [[John F. Kennedy]], who called the then-quota-system "nearly intolerable".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=9269|title=235 - Remarks to Delegates of the American Committee on Italian Migration.|date=June 11, 1963|work=[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu The American Presidency Project]}}</ref> After Kennedy's assassination, President [[Lyndon Johnson]] signed the bill at the foot of the [[Statue of Liberty]] as a symbolic gesture. In order to convince the American people of the legislation's merits, its proponents assured that passage would not influence America's culture significantly. President Johnson called the bill "not a revolutionary bill. It does not affect the lives of millions",<ref name="Johnson1965">Johnson, L.B., (1965). President Lyndon B. Johnson's Remarks at the Signing of the Immigration Bill. Liberty Island, New York October 3, 1965 [http://www.lbjlibrary.org/lyndon-baines-johnson/timeline/lbj-on-immigration transcript at lbjlibrary ].</ref> while [[US SOS|Secretary of State]] [[Dean Rusk]] estimated only a few thousand Indian immigrants over the next five years, and other politicians, including Senator Ted Kennedy, hastened to reassure the populace that the demographic mix would not be affected; these assertions would later prove grossly inaccurate.<ref name = NPR>{{cite web | title= 1965 immigration law changed face of America | author = Jennifer Ludden | url = http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5391395 | publisher = NPR}}</ref> In line with earlier immigration law, the bill also prohibited the entry into the country of "sexual deviants", including homosexuals. By doing so it crystallized the policy of the INS that had previously been rejecting homosexual immigrants on the grounds that they were "mentally defective" or had a "constitutional psychopathic inferiority".<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Human Rights Brief|volume=6|issue=3|author=Tracy J. Davis|url=http://www.wcl.american.edu/hrbrief/v6i3/immigration.htm|title=Opening the Doors of Immigration: Sexual Orientation and Asylum in the United States}}</ref> ==Congressional consideration== [[File:Johnsonliberty.jpg|thumb|right|October 3, 1965: President [[Lyndon Johnson]] visits the [[Statue of Liberty]] to sign the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.]] The [[U.S. House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] voted 320 to 70 in favor of the act, while the [[United States Senate|Senate]] passed the bill by a vote of 76 to 18. In the Senate, 52 Democrats voted yes, 14 no, and 1 abstained. Of the Republicans, 24 voted yes, 3 voted no, and 1 abstained.<ref name = Poole1>{{cite web | url = http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/89-1965/s232 | author = Keith Poole | publisher = Civic Impulse, LLC | title = Senate Vote #232 (Sep 22, 1965)}}</ref> In the House, 202 Democrats voted yes, 60 voted no and 12 abstained, 117 Republicans voted yes, 10 voted no and 11 abstained. One unknown representative voted yes.<ref name = Poole2>{{cite web | url = http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/89-1965/h177 | author = Keith Poole | publisher = Civic Impulse, LLC | title = House Vote #177 (Sep 30, 1965)}}</ref> In total, 74% of Democrats and 85% of Republicans voted for passage of this bill. Most of the no votes were from the [[Southern United States|American South]], which was then still strongly Democratic. During debate on the [[United States Senate|Senate]] floor, Senator Kennedy, speaking of the effects of the act, said, "...our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually.... Secondly, the ethnic mix of this country will not be upset....".<ref>{{citation|author=Bill Ong Hing|title=Defining America: Through Immigration Policy|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ypfPMhkLPgAC|year=2012|publisher=Temple University Press|isbn=978-1-59213-848-7|page=[http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=ypfPMhkLPgAC&pg=PA95 95]}}</ref> The act's supporters not only claimed the law would not change America's ethnic makeup, but that such a change was not desirable. 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".<ref name = Johnson>{{cite web | url = http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/Johnson/archives.hom/speeches.hom/651003.asp | title = Remarks at the Signing of the Immigration Bill, Liberty Island, New York | date = October 3, 1965 | accessdate = January 1, 2012 }}</ref> ==Long-term results== Immigration changed America's demographics, opening the doors to immigrants from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The Latin American population also dramatically increased since 1965, though this was more due to the various unexpected results of this act rather than due to this act itself (it is worth noting that this act introduced immigration quotas to Latin America, whereas there were previously no immigration quotas from the [[Western Hemisphere]]; also see [[National Origins Formula]]).<ref>[http://wws.princeton.edu/coverstories/Massey_LatinAmericaImmigrationSurge/Unintended-Consequences.pdf PDR 38.1 Massey-COLOR.indd]. (PDF) . Retrieved on 2013-06-29.</ref> By the 1990s, America's population growth was more than one-third driven by legal immigration and substantially augmented by [[illegal immigration to the United States|illegal immigration]], primarily from Latin America and other parts of the developing world. Before passage of the Hart-Celler Act, immigration accounted for only ten percent of population increase in the U.S. Ethnic and racial minorities, as defined by the US Census Bureau, rose from 25 percent of the US population during the year 1990 to 30 percent in the year 2000 and to 36.6 percent as measured by the results from the 2010 census.<ref name="quickfacts.census.gov">{{cite web|url=http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html |title=USA QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau |publisher=Quickfacts.census.gov |date= |accessdate=2013-06-06}}</ref> Similarly, during the same time period the non-Hispanic white population in the United States decreased from 75 percent of the overall US population in 1990 to 70 percent in 2000 and finally to 63.4 percent during the year 2011.<ref name="quickfacts.census.gov"/> It is estimated that by the year 2042, white people not referring to themselves as Hispanic will no longer constitute a majority but rather only a plurality of the population of the United States. Non-white groups, led by [[Hispanic Americans]] (mainly [[Mexican Americans]]), [[Black Americans]], [[Asian Americans]], [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], and [[Pacific Islander Americans]] would together outnumber non-Hispanic White Americans. According to the 2000 census, roughly 11.1 percent of the American population was foreign-born, a major increase from the low of 4.7 percent in 1970. A third of the foreign-born were from Latin America and a fourth from Asia. The passage of the Hart-Celler Act contributed to increased illegal immigration from Latin America, especially Mexico, since the unlimited legal ''[[Bracero Program|bracero]]'' program previously in place was eliminated. The waves of immigrants have encountered both possibilities and problems. Many immigrants have been able to take advantage of the abundance of opportunities in the U.S., although some immigrant groups continue to face major challenges. For example, Asian Indians in the U.S. have a higher average income and lower poverty rate than the national average, while [[Vietnamese American]]s (mostly from refugee backgrounds) have median earnings less than the national average and a higher poverty rate.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/censr-17.pdf | author = U.S. Census Bureau | title = We the People:Asians in the United States | date = December 2004 |deadurl=no |accessdate=September 14, 2013}}</ref> Asians and Pacific Islanders (including international students from Asia) constituted 30 percent of the student population in California's public universities by 2000, and over 38% of the student population by 2011. The problems have centered on questions of multicultural identity as opposed to the melting-pot idea, debates on the economic impact of immigration, impact of illegal immigration, and fears of becoming a polyglot nation with English not the primary language.<ref name = Portland>{{cite web | url = http://www.upa.pdx.edu/IMS/currentprojects/TAHv3/Immigration_Act.html | author = Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies, Portland State University | title = Immigration & naturalization act of 1965: Origin of modern American society | date = August 2011 | accessdate = January 1, 2012}}</ref> ==See also== *[[History of laws concerning immigration and naturalization in the United States]] *[[Luce–Celler Act of 1946]] ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=7051&zzz=33308 Immigration Policy in the United States] (2006), Congressional Budget office. *[http://www.lawandsoftware.com/ina/ Immigration and Nationality Act (2011) HTML version] {{Immigration to the United States}} {{Lyndon B. Johnson}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Immigration And Nationality Act Of 1965}} [[Category:United States federal immigration and nationality legislation]] [[Category:1965 in law]] [[Category:History of the United States (1964–80)]]'