Immigration Act Of 1965 Essay

The Hart-Celler Act known as the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965, put policies in place that greatly affected Asian Americans and the US demographic population which were immediate and evident over time. Up until the act of 1965 Asian Americans were highly discriminated against and laws were made to keep them from immigrating to the US. “In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first law in the United States that denied immigration to a specific ethnic group” (Le, 2016). As discussed by Walter (2007) the “national origins system originally passed in 1924 in favor of a quota and preference system” was enacted by the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965. The US began allowing a new system that enabled entire families to relocate, unite families and attract skilled labor workers to the United States. These policies reversed years of restrictive and systematic exclusion of people from certain countries to enter the country, South and East Asians were no longer barred from entry as they had been since 1924. During the initial five years following the 1965 legislation, immigration of people from Asian countries quadrupled with a focus on family reunification in which Immigrant family …show more content…
The majority of Asian Americans are foreign-born. The increased population of Asian Americans has contributed to new development as well as the revitalization of previously declining or undeveloped Asian neighborhoods in the US. “Asian immigrant owners and workers who came to the U.S. since the late 1960s have contributed to the proliferation of ethnic businesses, enclave economies, and residential communities. In addition, many children of these post-1965 Asian immigrants have attained remarkable educational and professional successes as well” (Le,