Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart–Celler Act and more recently as the 1965 Immigration Act, was a federal law passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson.^[1] The law abolished the National Origins Formula, which had been the basis of U.S. immigration policy since the 1920s.^[2] The act formally removed de facto discrimination against Southern and Eastern Europeans as well as Asians, in addition to other non-Western and Northern European ethnicities from the immigration policy of the United States.^[3]

The National Origins Formula had been established in the 1920s to preserve American homogeneity by promoting immigration from Western and Northern Europe.^[2][4] During the 1960s, at the height of the civil rights movement, this approach increasingly came under attack for being racially discriminatory. The bill is based on the draft bill sent to the Congress by President John F. Kennedy, who opposed the immigration formulas, in 1963, and was introduced by Senator Philip Hart and Congressman Emanuel Celler.^[5] However, its passage was stalled due to opposition from conservative Congressmen.^[6]

With the support of the Johnson administration, Celler and Hart introduced the bill again in 1965 to repeal the formula.^[7] The bill received wide support from both northern Democratic and Republican members of Congress, but strong opposition mostly from Southern conservative Democrats^[8], the latter mostly voting Nay or Not Voting.^[9][10] President Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 into law on October 3, 1965.^[1] Prior to the Act, the U.S. was 85% White, with Black people (most of whom were descendants of slaves) making up 11%, while Latinos made up less than 4%.^[11] In opening entry to the U.S. to immigrants other than Western and Northern Europeans, the Act significantly altered the demographic mix in the country.^[12]

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 created a seven-category preference system that gives priority to relatives and children of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents, professionals and other individuals with specialized skills, and refugees.^[13] The act also set a numerical limit on immigration (120,000 per annum) from the Western Hemisphere for the first time in U.S. history.^[14] Within the following decades, the United States would see an increased number of immigrants from Asia and Africa, as well as Eastern and Southern Europe.