How Immigration in the US Changed during the 1970s and 1980s

By the year 1965, the US operated on a quota immigration system that was based on national origin. This was to change though, when in the year 1965, a new Immigration and Naturalization act abolished the former Hart-celler Act. The new act focused on attracting skilled labor to the US and reuniting immigrant families. Unlike in the past years when immigrants coming to the US mostly came from Europe, the new act caused a tremendous change of the American population. One would note easily that immigrants started streaming in from Asia, Latin America and later from Africa.

Immediately after passing the bill, an impact that was not expected at first ripple the country. After the first five years after the bill was established, that is, the beginning of 1970s, immigration from Asian countries quadrupled. This were mainly people fleeing from war-torn Asian countries like Cambodia and Vietnam. This impact is not of surprise though, because the previous act had effectively barred Asian immigrants from entering the US. Additionally, other cold war conflicts that extended into the 1970s saw a tremendous immigration from Eastern Europe countries and Cuba.

Millions of legal immigrants entered the country during this period. In fact, the number was thrice the total number of immigrants before the act. Nevertheless, as immigrants continued to stream into the country, in most cases using land routes from Mexico and Canada, legal immigration inevitably became a political debate. These debates finally led to the Immigration Reform Act of 1986. The aim of this act was to curb illegal immigration by providing a better way to enforce immigration policies and in addition giving one more possibilities to get legally into the country. Of all the stipulations in the act, the two amnesty programs caused a good amount of effects. As stated above, the act was inclusive of two amnesty programs for illegal immigrants, which later gave amnesty to 3 million unauthorized aliens.

To say it all, two main immigrations patterns can be easily noted in the 1970s and 1980s. Immigration increased by a monumental level, that is the first major pattern. Second, the US saw immigrant faces from new countries. This was a major changing force for the country considering immigration was not as prevalent before the 1970s. In fact, during the World War II, immigration had significantly crushed. Immigrants streamed in from numerous locations by two sources churned in the highest numbers. First, a significant number of immigrants from Asia were recorded. Second, immigrants coming from Mexico also became prevalent.

One should note, however, that immigration from Europe did not end after the 1965 Act. Students, tourists, temporary visitors from Europe increased steadily at this time. Also, northern and southern Europeans respond to the attraction of migration to the US in a much more diverse way than before. Immigrants from German dropped sharply during this period. Greeks, Portuguese and Italian immigrants were more numerous than German immigrants to the US throughout the 1970s. Irish immigrants also dropped greatly from a healthy number of 5,500 to a meagre 1,000 per year in the 1970s. Portuguese and Spanish immigrants also remained high and strong all over the 1970s with small increases in the 1980s.

As the above information suggests, the conditions of one’s homeland drove the emigration choice more the appeal of the US did. For instance, a deep recession in Ireland I the 1980s caused a legal migration of skilled individuals to the US. Accompanied with them were illegal immigrants who could not acquire visas for lack of valued skills.