“Conservatism has always been about reforming government and solving problems, and that’s why the conservative movement should lead on immigration reform.” – Marco Rubio
The United States has long been a destination for freedom and opportunity for millions of men and women from around the globe. Immigration has been an essential element for the socioeconomic improvement of our nation. Our founders realized America would have to rely on the constant flow of diverse newcomers to maintain our society. To live up to that billing, we need immigration reform.
America was established by immigrants. Many were enlightenment scholars who believed man could self govern. During the Convention of 1777, fearing they’d fail to produce a Constitution for the colonies, many sensitive sectional issues were avoided, such as slavery and suffrage. There were other issues our framers never imagined would be problems years later, such as immigration.
For its first 100 years, the U.S. promoted immigration, welcoming foreigners to populate our nation. Beginning in the 1880s, an era of qualitative immigration began banning undesirable migrants such as prostitutes and workers considered indentured servants. In the 1920s, quotas set a ceiling on the number and type of migrants we’d accept yearly according to the actual needs of our nation.
Until the early 1950s, Congress was reactionary to the needs of world societies; and for the most part our immigration policies benefited us. With soldiers returning from the war and women now in the workforce, America’s needs changed. We needed less unskilled labor and more skilled labor.
Every time there is a crisis, the UN and do good-groups turn to the U.S. for help. In 1953, Congress passed the Refugee Relief Act to allow in more immigrants who had used up their quotas. Between 1953 and 1956, 190,000 skilled and unskilled refugees entered the U.S. both legally and illegally.
Since Congress only reacts to problems, they patch a quandary with a quick fix and never look for a real remedy. With the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, critics accused the U.S. of having an unfair quota system and giving priorities to immigrants that had relatives residing in the U.S.
The ink was barely dry on the 1964 Civil Rights Act when President Lyndon B. Johnson faced another crisis. Advocates for reform demanded LBJ end the quota system. It was an election year and LBJ needed to get this done. He and John Kennedy had discussed this when they were in the Senate. Democrats had promised identity groups they’d eliminate the quota system and needed to do it before the election.
A Democratic Congress passed the Hart-Celler Act in 1965. It ended origin quotas and increased immigration of unskilled workers from around the globe. Despite promises from LBJ and Kennedyn that the Hart-Celler Act would not increase the immigrant footprint, over seven million migrants entered the country legally and illegally starting in the 1980s – and that trend has continued for 45 years.
LBJ said, “Hart-Celler does not affect the lives of millions. It will not reshape the structure of our daily lives.” Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) stated: “It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society.”
Despite these predictions, the legislation did the opposite. In just a few years, it completely changed the U.S. demographic profile. The number of new legal migrants rose from 297,000 in 1965 to an average of a 1 million each year. According to the Pew Research Center Hispanic Trends Project, the foreign-born population has risen from 9.6 million in 1965 of 45 million in 2015 and growing.
The Hart-Celler Act changed the face of America. It ended immigration policy based on national origin, skills and necessity. It cut European immigration by 50%. Hart-Celler gave rise to both legal and illegal large-scale immigration. Looking at Hart-Celler today and considering what it did to our migrant footprint, we must question: Are any immigration laws passed in 1965 relevant today?
Congress has only made one serious attempt to redefine Hart-Celler to meet our changing times. They passed the Immigration Act of 1990 to admit a greater share of skilled and educated migrants through employment. But family-based immigrants continue to comprise over two-thirds of our legal immigration, while about 15% of immigrants become permanent residents through employment.
Compared to European immigration under the national-origins system, since 1965 over half of the immigrants are Hispanic and a quarter are Asian. The largest share of the immigrants, about 12 million, come from these countries: Mexico, the Philippines, China, Vietnam, South Korea, Cuba, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Guatemala. That’s 60% plus of our immigrant population.
Hart-Celler was driven by ambitious politicians in an election year. Unlike many other immigration laws passed by Congress, it was not passed to benefit America but to make U.S. immigration laws more politically friendly in an election year by appeasing people from under-developed countries.
In 1965, the Hart-Celler Act took only nine months to enact. The bill was truly bipartisan. In the Senate, the bill passed 76 to 18. The House passed it 320 to 70. Not only did the bill win support from the majorities of both Houses, more Democrats opposed the bill than Republicans. Its swift passage through Congress raises the question of why today’s political leaders have failed for decades to pass substantive, necessary immigration reform legislation when we need it most.
A lot has happened in our nation and around the world since 1965. In the last 60 years, we have seen the growth of global terrorism, experienced a deadly terrorist attack on our homeland 9/11, we’ve witnessed murders and mob violence from migrant gangs, a huge increase in illegal border crossings, an increase in sex trafficking and deadly illegal street drugs flowing across our border.
The Hart-Celler Act helped a lot of unskilled workers from third world countries catch part of the American Dream. It showed the world how benevolent our nation can be when people need help anywhere. The question is, does its many flaws outweigh its merits in today’s modern America?
Donald Trump was elected to solve the Biden/Harris border crisis. He’s been doing all he can with a “do nothing on immigration Congress.” He’s using the tools he has within the Justice Department. But Congress must update our immigration laws to protect us from another progressive takeover of America like with Biden/Harris. We need tangible immigration reform that works for America today.
Reexamining Hart-Celler is not opening a can of worms if we myopically examine the history of immigration since 1965. What worked best for us and our immigrant partners back then needs to be fine-tuned for our national security today. Our world is entirely different today than was in 1965.
“We must fix a broken immigration system. That means stopping illegal immigration. And it means welcoming properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion.” – Nikki Haley
This article was originally published at www.thecentersquare.com
