Great Wave of Immigration in the United States Since 1965

Great Wave of immigration in the United States since 1965.

Immigration has been the defining characteristic of America since before the country even began. In other words, America has always been a land of immigrants. It therefore has a rich history about immigration which has changed over time. The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 changed the face of America and has made America a one of a kind melting pot of people from different nations. One nation that stood sharply out was Asia. Immigrants from Asia rose dramatically with the passage of the act, which has impacted American society positively.

The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965, which is also called The Hart-Celler Act, is the most significant event in contemporary U.S. History. Significant events include those who are “sufficiently great or important to be worthy of attention”. (Oxforddictionaries.com). The Hart Celler Act, which was signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, was a complete reversal of direction shift away from the immigration policies, and provided a dramatic rethinking of immigration policy. Who is behind the Act, what is the goal if it, and what is its consequences are three major questions that shows up when talking about the Hart-Celler Act.

This change in U.S immigration policy was brought about by Jewish interests to fundamentally change the face of America and ultimately the racial and political possession of all white nations. This change in policy was not asked for, but bounded on by the American public. It was result in of convene effort, Jewish academics, and Jewish law makers. Due to their work, their goal was achieved when President Johnson signed the law. By signing the Act, Johnson returned the idea that America was a nation that welcomed immigrants. “The act’s signal achievement was to abolish the noxious quota system, in effect since 1924, that restricted immigration and allocated visas for permanent residents per national origin and race.” (NGAI 4).

So, the Hart Celler Act marked a dramatic break with past immigration policy. It went from a noxious quota system which favoured immigrants from Northern and Western Europe, restricted those from Eastern and Southern, and excluded Asian altogether, to welcome future immigrants due to their professional skills, not based on their country of origin.

 “An annual limit of 170,000 entries for the Eastern Hemisphere, with a maximum of 20,000 from a none count was established by the Act. As the Act was signed fifty-nine million people have made their way to the United States from almost every nation on the globe.” (CIS). This opened the door to all nations which led to a new wave of immigrants. One nation differed sharply out because of the bill. This nation was as already mentioned, Asia. Because of this bill, remarkable larger numbers of Asian immigrants started to migrate to the U.S., leading to the new great wave of immigrants.

One of the Hart-Celler Act’s main consequences was therefore a new great wave of immigration, which was the beginning of mass immigration to America from Asia. This great wave of immigration to the United States is a wave that continues today. Since 1965, nearly 59 million immigrants have come to the U.S.

Immigrants from Asia entered the U.S. for several reasons. It was both push and pull factors, but mostly pull factors:

Although political reasons have spurred some individuals to emigrate from Asian countries, except for political refugees from Southeast Asia, most have left their homelands because of poor economic conditions or situations that would not have allowed them to arraign the elsewhere. After 1965, that “elsewhere” became the United States, which has the opportunities that they seek and has allowed the entry of Asians. (Uma 77).  

As the migration from Asia to the United States rose dramatically with passage of the act, these immigrants brought their diverse cultures, language skills, and different economic and demographic traits from various Asian countries and the Indian subcontinent, which today constitute the fastest growing minority in the United States, by both birth and immigration. (Sanam).

The number of Asian immigrants increased from “491,000in 1960 to about 12.8 million in 2014, representing 5 percent of the U.S foreign-born population; by 2014, their share grew to 30 percent of the nation’s 42.4million immigrants.” (Zong and Batalova).

The Data from U.S. Census Bureau shows that Asian migration to the United States, mainly from South Eastern Asia, “grew exponentially between 1970 and 2014. South Eastern Asia accounted for the largest share of the total Asian immigrant population (4.2million) in 2014, followed by Eastern Asia (4 million), South Central Asia (3.5million), and Western Asia (1.1million).” (Zong & Batalova).