Immigration

Immigration to the United States changed significantly in the 1960s with the landmark IMMIGRATION Act OF 1965 that dramatically altered the ethnic, religious, and cultural composition of the American people.

With the National Origins Act of 1924, the United States closed its doors to the population of eastern and southern Europe. The measure established quotas based on the presumed desirability of various nationalities, in particular, immigrants from northern and western Europe. Preference for visas was accorded annually on the basis of 2 percent of the foreign-born population of each nationality as determined by the 1890 U. S. census. In 1890, there were comparatively more immigrants from western and northern European countries, and this limited the opportunity for citizens of southern and eastern European countries to enter the United States.

The McCarran-Walter Act of 1952, passed over President Harry S. Truman’s veto, reaffirmed the national origins quota system established in the 1924 measure. The 1952 law removed the ban on immigration from Asia and Pacific areas. At the same time it gave immigration officials more authority to exclude and deport “undesirable” aliens. With the COLD WAR in full swing, many Americans were suspicious of those coming from southern and eastern European countries that were either sympathetic to or controlled by the Soviet Union. Giving more authority to immigration officials to deport or exclude undesirables from the United States caused immigration from southern and eastern Europe to effectively stop as a result of the communist threat.

In the 1960s, with support from both political parties, new policies created a more favorable climate for immigrants and refugees. The Immigration Act of 1965 revised the McCarran-Walter Act and altered the national quota system. It established annual immigration limits that included

170.000  aliens from outside the Western Hemisphere, and

120.000  from the Western Hemisphere for a total admission of 290,000 immigrants per year, although exceptions to the limits meant that the number of immigrants who entered the country far exceeded the annual quota. The new quotas significantly increased the number of immigrants allowed into the United States, compared to previous decades. During the 1960s, nearly 350,000 immigrants entered the country each year. By the 1970s, the number had risen to 400,000. Family members of U. S. citizens were exempted from the quotas, along with political refugees, who were now defined as victims of natural calamities and religious or political persecution. This allowed many new groups into the country, including Indochinese refugees who fled to the United States in response to unsettled conditions in Southeast Asia created by the Vietnam War.

The 1965 measure did prevent some from entering the United States by establishing three categories of individuals who were excluded from the country: people with mental diseases and drug or alcohol addictions; criminals, prostitutes, and those with contagious diseases; and those considered subversive. Even with these exclusions, the Immigration Act of 1965 benefited many groups, including Asians and Latin Americans, although the measure was initially intended to promote the unification of eastern European family members previously denied admission to the United States.

Despite strict monitoring of the immigration system, large numbers of people entered the country illegally. The largest number of individuals coming to the United States illegally arrived from Mexico. Many undocumented persons found work in agriculture, harvesting crops or planting nursery stock. While it is difficult to determine how many illegal immigrants came to the United States, some estimate that anywhere between 1 million and 5 million crossed the border annually beginning in the 1950s, with even larger numbers in more recent years. In the early 1950s, the Immigration and Naturalization Service reported that it had deported nearly 3.8 million Mexicans from the United States. Many of those who crossed the border came in search of a higher standard of living and relief from hunger, poor medical care, and impoverished conditions.

Like many immigrants before, those who came to the United States in the 1950s and 1960s formed communities in large towns and cities across the nation. Beginning in 1959, large numbers of Cubans—in search of political asylum from the new communist government under Fidel Castro—settled in Miami, Florida, and in urban areas in New York and New Jersey. Asian and Filipino immigrants established communities in cities in Hawaii and California while Chinese immigrants often settled in the Chinatowns of New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Many immigrants favored living in ethnic boroughs in major cities upon arrival in the United States, but many later moved to small, outlying towns as they adapted to their new home.

Further reading: Roger Daniels, Coming to America: A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life (New York: HarperCollins, 1990).

—Sarah Brenner