The Immigration Act of 1965: A New Foundation for Ethnic Politics in the US, Slides of Law

Download The Immigration Act of 1965: A New Foundation for Ethnic Politics in the US and more Slides Law in PDF only on Docsity!

The Immigration Act of 1965:

The Second Foundation of

U.S. Racial Politics

Three Pillars of

Contemporary Ethnic

Politics

Foundations

• The Voting Rights Act of 1965
• The Immigration and Naturalization Act

of 1965 (today)

• Pan-ethnicity (Tuesday)

Restrictions for Some Mean

Opportunities for Others

 National Origin Quotas in practice

 Limited European immigration  Labor demand continues

 Consequence

 New demand for migration from the Americas  Rapid expansion of migration from Mexico and the Caribbean  Industries (particularly agriculture) become dependent on Latino labor  U.S. government tries to regularize the flow of Mexican/Latino migrants: The Bracero Program

Mexican Immigration to

Permanent Residence, 1900-

Mexican Immigration Total Immigration Mexican Share of Total

1910s 219,004 5,735,811 3.80%

1920s 459,287 4,104,209 11.20%

The 1965 Immigration Act

 Guiding objectives

1. Family reunification
2. Meeting national labor needs
3. Less national bias

 Creates immigration opportunities for potential

migrants who have immediate relatives in United

States

 Creates immigration opportunities for Latinos and Asian Americans

 Tells some potential migrants that they are permanently

ineligible to migrate

How Did it Pass?

 Completely different story from VRA

 Few Senators cared

 Impact assumed to be minimal

 Initial impact was minimal

 Annual immigration in the 1960s approximately

 Nations sending most immigrants, 1960s—

Mexico, Canada, Italy, United Kingdom

Legal Immigration by

Decade

0

2,000,

4,000,

6,000,

8,000,

10,000,

12,000,

1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000- 2006

2000- 2009, est.

Sources of Immigrants to

Permanent Residence, 2006

Africa Asia Americas Europe Other

Native Responses and a New

Immigrant/Ethnic Politics

 1970s-1980s—fear of undocumented migrants

 1990s

 Proposition 187—States and costs  Social welfare—changing the social contract  Immigration reform—raising the bar  Pat Buchanan and the return of classic nativism

 2000 and beyond

 Compassionate conservatism—a new elite tolerance?  Post 9/11—challenging the civil liberties of immigrants  The “Minutemen” and direct confrontation

Unauthorized Migration by

State, 2000 and 2005

0

500000

1000000

1500000

2000000

2500000

3000000

CA TX FL NY IL AZ GA NJ NC NV Other

Source: Office of Immigration Statistics, 2006^2000

In Sum

 1965 Immigration Act

 Immigration reduced racial exclusion  Engine for 1980s/1990s growth in Asian and Latino populations  Creates potential divide with African Americans  Creates large group who can only migrate in unauthorized status

 Society divided over how to respond to size of

migration and unauthorized migration

 New nativism  Exclusion creates focus for immigrant/ethnic mobilization