LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS THE PRESIDENT THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Sirs: The United States Commission on Civil Rights transmits this report to you pursuant to Public Law 85-315, as amended. The Tarnished Golden Door: Civil Rights Issues in Immigration is based on a Commission hearing in Washington, D.C., in November 1978 and on months of research preceding and following that hearing. The report examines the current immigration system and the civil rights problems encountered in that system by American residents, particularly those citizens and aliens who are racially and culturally identifiable with major immigrant groups. Although the United States has been variously characterized as "a nation of immigrants" and a "melting pot,' strangers migrating to its shores have often met resistance from previous generations of immigrants. In part, this resistance is reflected in current immigration laws, procedures, and practices that often fail to accord these peoples the constitutional safeguards available to other United States citizens, America's "old" immigrants. Generally, the report reaches two conclusions: current immigration laws still contain discriminatory provisions, and current immigration laws and the practices and procedures for the enforcement of those laws result in the denial of the rights of American citizens and aliens. To remedy the problems that led to these conclusions, the report offers recommendations for improving immigration law and procedure. Some of the specific problems discussed in this report will require legislative remedies, while others may be solved more readily by administrative action. It is our hope that this report, with its findings and recommendations, will prompt immediate corrective action, for we believe that American residents with ethnic characteristics similar to major immigrant groups have suffered too long from the burdens attendant upon immigrant or alien status in American society. Respectfully, Arthur S. Flemming, Chairman Frankie M. Freeman Manuel Ruiz, Jr. Murray Saltzman Louis Nuñez, Staff Director |