California History - Immigration

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May 21 , 2006

The History of Immigration in California

The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 came about when Lyndon Johnson persuaded Congress to pass such an act . The new legislation brought an end to quotas which had been based on national origin , and the main factor of selection ' became the applicant 's occupation (Historical

. 1 . Those lucky enough to already have relatives in the United States received preference . Overall , the Immigration Act of 1965 changed the manner in which immigrants

were allowed into the United States , allowing more individuals from the third world , to enter the United States , but detailing a separate quota for refugees . The breakdown for immigrants was

170 ,000 from the Eastern Hemisphere were to be granted residency , with no more than 20 ,000 per country

120 ,000 from the Western Hemisphere were to be granted residency (Historical pg . 1

No longer were immigrants admitted solely on the basis of their country of origin , but rather

for the varied skills and professions they brought with them . The history leading up to the passage of this Act came down to the fact that the manner in which the US allowed foreigners to enter the United States had become an increasing embarrassment (LP

. 2 . In essence the laws declared that Northern Europeans were superior subspecies ' of the white race , the Nordics were superior to the Alpines , who were superior to the Mediterraneans , and they were all superior to the Jews and Asians (LP

. 3 . By the early 1960 's Greeks , Poles , Portugese and Italian immigrants were complaining that the quotas against them discriminated in favor of Western Europeans . President John F . Kennedy in a 1963 speech , called the system nearly intolerable (LP

. 3 When the bill was later passed in 1965 , President Johnson essentially stated that the Act would not reshape the structure of our daily lives or add importantly to either our wealth or our power (LP

. 3 . It was a statement that would prove to be very wrong . It was felt at the time that the Immigration Act 's primary purpose was to reunite families and would change little else , but in reality the result was far different from the theory

The caps ' of 120 ,000 and 170 ,000 really had no meaning , being made in Congress , because the cap ' did not include spouses , minor children and parents of U .S . Citizens (Graham

. 7 . Legal immigration now began a sharp rise from both Latin America and Asia . In the 1970 's Europe and Canada sent 20 of legal immigrants , Latin America and Asia 77 , reflecting the push factor ' of poverty below the Mexican b and in Asia , with Europe fairly bursting with prosperity (Graham

. 7 Western Europeans and residents of the U .K . could rarely show the family ties in the U .S , yet those in Latin America and Asia could show plenty of relatives to come to . It was during...