Immigration Act of 1965 (Hart-

Cellar Act)By Arturo Rios

Lupe BecerraLeonardo Aguilar Valdez

Background

Boom of Immigrants

-In 1882, Congress passed Chinese Exclusion Act and began 61-year period of restriction immigration policies.

-In 1920-21,House of Representatives voted 293-46 in favor of 14-month suspension of all immigration.

-Nations outside Western Hemisphere were assigned quotas.

History Of Previous Court Cases

-The Immigration Act became responsible for surge in immigration in last third of the 20th Century, and also heightened the growing of Latin Americans and Asians.

-In 1965, Senator Sam J. Ervin took a conservative stance stating existing quota system wasn't discriminatory.

-Hart Cellar Act abolished national quotas and substituted hemispheric caps: 170,000 in Eastern Hemisphere, and 120,000 in Western, with limit of 20,000 annually.

Significant Points Created By Law

-This new law expanded the categories of family members who could enter without numerical limit.

-Hart Cellar Act set aside 6% of the overall global immigration cap for refugees, but left the McGarran Act's presidential parole power intact.

-Bulk of 22.8 million immigrants who entered between 1,966 and 2,000 were family members of recent immigrants participating in continuing streams of so-called "chain immigration".

Significant Points Created By Law

• First, by the 1960's many Americans came to see the immigration restrictions on Asians, Africans,Southern and Eastern Europeans as a form of racism.

• "The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs.”(Sen. Edward Kennedy U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization of the Committee on the Judiciary, Washington, D.C., Feb. 10, 1965. pp. 1–3.)

Logic Used to Support Hart Cellar Act

• "The time has come for us to insist that the quota system be replaced by the merit system.... It deprives us of able immigrants whose contributions we need ... It would increase the amount of authorized immigration by only a fraction.” (letter to The New York Times, Aug. 24, 1964, p. 26.)

• It's supporters believed the Act would not increase overall levels of immigration, but they did not realize the effect that accepting family reunification from the hemispheric quotas would have change the demographic balance of the U.S. population.

Logic Used to Support Hart Cellar Act

How it impact democracy

-Lyndon Johnson signed Immigration Act on October 3, 1965. He stressed law's symbolic importance over all:

"This bill that we will sign today is not a revolutionary bill. It does not affect the lives of millions. It will not reshape the structure of our daily lives, or really add importantly to either our wealth or our power. Yet it is still one of the most important acts of this Congress and of this administration corrects a cruel and enduring wrong in the conduct of the American nation".

Immigration Act of 1965

Pictures

1965: The Hart Cellar

-Leo: The Hart Cellar Act opened up its doors to whoever wanted to come to the U.S. My family members came to the U.S. in search of better life, and this Act is allowing our family to live with better commodities.

-Arturo: Well what I thought about The Hart Cellar Act was sort of difficult to understand of why the U.S. wanted them to come to work to U.S. and then showing keep out signs that they don't want immigrants.

Lupe: I think The Hart Cellar Act was a big step in making the U.S stronger by making it more diverse and opened minded towards other cultures.

Opinion

Happy Halloween!!

Thank You!

• "A Nation of Immigrants." Cuny.edu. Ed. William Miller. The New York Times, Sept.-Oct. 1964. Web. Oct.-Nov. 2012. <www1.cuny.edu/portal_ur/content/immigrants.../unit1_lesson5.pdf>.

• A.J. Digital image. Blogger. Blogger, July-Aug. 2012. Web. 27 Oct. 2012. <http://modernheretic3000.blogspot.com/2012/07/good-news-monday-meskin-clown-car.html>.

• Matthews, Devin L. "Immigration Act of 1965". Immigration Act: 1965. Hist 2260: The Modern World, 11 Sept. 2003. Web. 30 Oct. 2012.

<http://www.thenagin.info/webchron/usa/immigrationact.html>.

• Race 2012 PBS. Directors. Tim Wise. 2012. Youtube Video. PBS, 2012.

<http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEuXwHeN3Cl• "The Immigration Act of 1965." The Immigration Act of

1965". N.p, 03 Apr. 2008. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. <http://www.america.gov/st/edu-english/2008/April/

20080423214226.eaifas0.9637982.html

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