"If the United States is to reform its immigration system, let the new system be one that is truly nondiscriminatory--a system that judges all men on the basis of individual merit and worth without regard to place of birth."
~House of Representatives, Amending the Immigration and Nationality Act, and for Other Purposes
The Reason for Opposition
"When the national quotas were established by the Immigration Act of 1924 to control immigration from the various countries of the world, the admission of aliens from independent countries of the Western Hemisphere was left open and unrestricted by any numerical limitation. The Immigration and Nationality Act continued this policy...when the general immigration laws were revised in 1952."
~Senate, Amending the Immigration and Nationality Act, and for Other Purposes
Opponents of free immigration worried about Western Hemisphere immigrants. No quotas had ever existed for them in the history of American immigration, and opponents feared another cultural disaster. After World War I, when the Immigration Act of 1924 and the Great Depression created a widespread need for laborers, Mexican migrants flooded into the United States like the Chinese. Unfortunately, they refused to assimilate, speaking their own languages, living in temporary towns, and celebrating their holidays (King 234). Strict believers of Americanization strongly disapproved, and free immigration also gave Western Hemisphere immigrants an unfair advantage over the Eastern Hemisphere.
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"The...bill...provides for the abolition of the national origins quota system, but it fails to end discrimination based upon national origin. Under its operation,...natives of the Western Hemisphere would be admitted to the United States without any numerical limitation..., [placing them] in a highly preferred position to that of the natives of...the rest of the world who would be subjected to a limited numerical ceiling and a rigid system of qualifications called 'preferences'."
~House of Representatives, Amending the Immigration and Nationality Act, and for Other Purposes
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Compromise
"It is argued...that to impose a limit on Western Hemisphere immigration would be to reject the concept of hemispheric solidarity and to interfere with the conduct of our foreign affairs...this special treatment of the Western Hemisphere was based upon a mutuality of interest, ideals, and aspirations."
~House of Representatives, Amending the Immigration and Nationality Act, and for Other Purposes
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"The [Johnson] Administration and many of the ethnic, labor and religious groups supporting immigration reform [were willing] to compromise on the overall quota, family reunification and other provisions, and thus help neutralize past opponents..."
~Congress and the Nation: 1965-1968
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After countless arguments, the Johnson Administration reluctantly chose an annual ceiling of 120,000 for Western Hemisphere immigrants and 170,000 for Eastern Hemisphere immigrants, with limits of 20,000 immigrants per country and 10,200 refugees overall. Opposing organizations ceased their protests.
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