What_It_Is

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, otherwise known as the McCarran Walter Act was enacted on June 27th 1952. It upheld the 'national origins quota' that was made by the Immigration Act of 1924. Making a new system of preferences based on skills, this Act also heavily favored Northern and Western European migrants

Democrat Emanuel Celler complained that this law created the sense that Americans thought people from Eastern Europe and Asia as less desirable/inferior to those of European descent. McCarran and Walter, the founders of this law, responded by saying that the US could face communist infiltration through immigration through migration and that unassimilated "aliens" could ruin the American lifestyle

A group of illegal "aliens" wave goodbye to the Statue of Liberty, in 1952

This law masked the continued discrimination by breaking down the "Asia Barred Zone" which was a step towards improving US relations, but this also alotted new Asian quotas based on race and not nationality.  

Ellis Island in 1903, the busiest immigration inspection station of the time 

- Allotted each Asian nation a minimum quota of 100 visas each year

- Instituted that individuals with special skills or families already resident in the United States received precedence, which is a system that is still used today.

- Gave non-quota status to foreign (“alien”) husbands of American citizens (wives had been going in and out of the quota system for several years)

- This act made it so that a person with one or more Asian parent would be under the national quota of the Asian nation. ​​​​​​​

- 85 percent of the 154,277 visas available were given to people of northern and western European lineage.  

- Created a labor certification system that was made to “prevent new immigrants from becoming unwanted competition for American laborers”.