Since the signing of the bill in 1965, millions have immigrated to the United States of America. Though many Politicians and their constituents sympathize with immigrants seeking better opportunities and to be part of the melting pot, there were others that opposed the bill completely. The United States has always struggled with the idea of how a nation should be defined. Many argued that the type of immigrants that were coming into the country will no assimilate to "America's" way of thinking. Others persist that the United States is a "Judeo-Christian Nation", that immigrants from other religious groups are a contradiction to the American way of living.
We always want to believe that this country opens the doors for the poor and the hungry. We the people of the United States of America want to believe that we extend our hands to help those in need and show compassion for immigrants. However, from a recent article, I came across the following is mentioned that really stuck in my mind:
" The original version of the 1965 Act, cosponsored by Senator Philip Hart of Michigan and Representative Emmanuel Celler of New York, both liberal Democrats, favored those immigrants whose skills were “especially advantageous” to the United States."
There is definitely a fundamental problem in how we view immigrants in this country back then and even to this day. Xenophobia today is in an all-time high and the debate on the immigration process to obtain visas for immigrants still continues. Was the actual Bill of 1965 and the politicians that signed it into law had good intentions? That is something we should really have an open debate on it in my opinion.
Reference:
Gjelten, Tom. "The Immigration Act That Inadvertently Changed America". The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/10/immigration-act-1965/408409/. Accessed Oct 2, 2015
