The 50th Anniversary of the Immigration and Nationality Act

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1965 turned 50 years old on October 3. The Act was passed shortly after the Civil Rights Acts in 1964 and 1965, and the INA ended the National Origins quota system. The National Origins System had restricted most U.S. immigration to citizens of northern Europe, such as Germany, Great Britain and Ireland. For example, in 1929, out of 150,000 immigrant visas available, over 50,000 were reserved for Germans, 100 to Greeks and zero visas to Chinese and other Asians.

The 1965 law changed immigration quotas from ones based on national origin and heavily favoring Northern Europe. The new system was weighted toward family reunification and the attraction of skilled workers. With the 1965 Act, the United States committed itself, for the first time, to accepting immigrants of all nationalities.

Nearly 59 million people have come to the United States since 1965, and three-quarters of them came from Latin America and Asia. America since 1965 has genuinely become a New Frontier, younger and more diverse. Immigration certainly increased American security. Significant numbers of immigrants and their children joined the United States military after 1965, and in every category the armed forces became more ethnically diverse.

The flood of new immigrants also promoted prosperity in ways that people could not have imagined in 1965. Between 1990 and 2005, as the digital age took off, 25 per cent of the fastest-growing American companies were founded by people born in foreign countries.

Silicon Valley, especially, was transformed. In California, where Asian immigrants had once faced great hardship, the immigrants helped to transform the global economy. The 2010 census stated that more than 50 percent of technical workers in Silicon Valley are Asian-American.

Opponents of immigration are usually correct when they argue that immigration brings dramatic change. But, after 50 years, it is clear that immigration has made this a better country. Immigration has transformed the US in past half century. Foreign-born residents of the US have reached a near-record 14 percent of the 320 million people now in the US. When we add the immigrants’ American-born children, we find that immigrant families represent 26 percent of the total US population.

The current wave of immigration has attracted people from every corner of the globe, and has demographically and culturally transformed most urban areas and many rural ones as well.

How Can America Respond to the Syrian Refugee Crisis? Think about our History With Vietnam. By now, it is a familiar story: Children, women, men -- dozens upon dozens of them -- stuffed into small boats meant to hold only 30 people. They know they have no lives left in their home country. They trust their bodies and their babies to the unforgiving ocean, and they trust their souls to an unknowable future on foreign shores. We are talking about Vietnam 40 years ago, but much the same thing is happening today with the Syrian refugees.

Recently, a former Vietnamese boat person said, “Looking at the news today, I am re-living my escape from Vietnam. We left because we had no choice. And now - it's the same story happening all over again, this time to the Syrians.

Although we don't know what will happen to the refugee families that we see crowding the beaches and train stations of Europe today, we do know what happened to the boat people who reached our country. It is not only the distress of refugees that must capture our hearts, but also the potential of resettlement that should engage our minds. These individuals will be assets to our society.

In the five years since the start of the Syrian conflict, the United States has resettled only 1,500 Syrians. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, the United States was re-settling over 150,000 refugees from Southeast Asia each year. We can do that again, for the Syrians.

What happened to the lawsuit against Obama’s Executive Actions? There is a saying that “justice delayed is justice denied”, and this seems to fit the Obama administration’s appeal of the lawsuit attacking the president’s executive actions on deportation. The appeal has been in the hands of a three judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court since July 10. But three months later, the panel has failed to rule, leaving 5.5 million DREAMers and undocumented parents of U.S. citizens and lawful residents unable to apply for any kind of legal status.

If this were a routine civil case, the judges’ delay in ruling probably wouldn’t matter. But this is not routine. It directly impacts the lives of millions of Americans across the country who fear that their spouse or parent will be deported.

The frustration of delay is increased because there’s little doubt about what these judges are going to do. They are almost certain to uphold the original injunction that prevented Obama’s Executive Actions from being implemented.

The final word on the Obama’s executive actions will have to come from the U.S. Supreme Court. But time is short. The Supreme Court has already begun its term. Unless the 5th Circuit rules soon, it’s highly unlikely the Supreme Court will be able to decide the case before June 2017. That means the 5th Circuit judges’ delay will leave 5.5 million undocumented immigrants and their families in immigration limbo until well after Obama leaves office.

Further delay serves no purpose. To the contrary, it now threatens to deprive millions of American families of the justice they deserve.
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Q.1. Isn’t there any way for Congress to implement Mr. Obama’s Executive Actions?
A.1. Certainly Congress has the ability to do this, but throughout Mr. Obama’s presidency, he has not been able to convince a majority of Congressmen to pass a helpful immigration reform.
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Q.2. At this time every year, there is the Visa Lottery. Are Vietnamese residents eligible to apply?
A.2. Countries like Vietnam that have sent large numbers of immigrants to America in the past are not included in the Lottery. Some other countries not eligible for the Visa Lottery are Brazil, Canada, China, India, Mexico, the Philippines, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.
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Q.3. If the United States accepts tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, is there any way to be sure that terrorists will not enter the US by claiming to be refugees?
A.3. The FBI and DHS have no way to do background checks for people from Syria, Iraq, Somalia and the Sudan. In these countries, no police or intelligence databases exist to identify criminals and terrorists.
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ROBERT MULLINS INTERNATIONAL www.rmiodp.com www.facebook.com/rmiodp
Immigration Support Services - Tham Van Di Tru

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