tively prohibiting entry from most Asian countries were also slightly relaxed by the 1952 Act.

However, the legislation was characterized by supporters and opponents alike as a restrictionist measure, and was a severe disappointment to those who had hoped for a liberalization of the immigration law. In particular, the continuation of the national origins quota system was viewed by critics of the legislation as being inappropriate to the needs of U.S. foreign policy. Foremost among these critics was President Truman, whose veto was overridden by a vote of 278 to 113 in the House, and 57 to 26 in the Senate. Quoting from his veto message:

Today, we are "protecting" ourselves as we were in 1924, against being flooded by immigrants from Eastern Europe. This is fantastic. The countries of Eastern Europe have fallen under the Communist yoke—they are silenced, fenced off by barbed wire and minefields-no one passes their borders but at the risk of his life. We do not need to be protected against immigrants from these countries— on the contrary we want to stretch out a helping hand, to save those who have managed to flee into Western Europe, to succor those who are brave enough to escape from barbarism, to welcome and restore them against the day when their countries will, as we hope, be free again. These are only a few examples of the absurdity, the cruelty of carrying over into this year of 1952 the isolationist limitations of our 1924 law.

....

In no other realm of our national life are we so hampered and stultified by the dead hand of the past, as we are in this field of immigration.14

In addition to continuing the national origins quota system for the Eastern Hemisphere, the 1952 Act also established a four-category selection system. Fifty percent of each national quota was allocated for first preference distribution to aliens with high education or exceptional abilities, and the remaining three preference categories were divided among specified relatives of U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens. This four-point selection system was the antecedent of our current preference system, which places higher priority on family reunification than on needed skills. However, under the 1952 law national origins remained the determining factor in immigrant admissions, and Northern and Western Europe were heavily favored. As in the past, the Western Hemisphere was not subject to numerical limitations.

Immigration during the decade 1951-1960 totaled 2,515,479, the highest since the 1920s. This was not surprising, since the two intervening decades included the depression of the 1930s and World War II. The gap between Eastern and Western Hemisphere immigration also narrowed: of the 2.5 million entries, almost a million entered from the Western Hemisphere.

Less than half of the immigrants who entered during the 1950s were admitted under the quota system. While many came under special temporary laws enacted to permit the admission of refugees and family members outside the quotas, many others entered as nonquota immigrants (e.g., from the Western Hemisphere) under the basic law. The gradual recognition that the national origins quota system was not functioning effectively as a means of regulating immigration was an important factor leading to the major policy revision which came in 1965.

J. REFUGEE ADMISSIONS IN THE 1950s AND 1960s

Major refugee admissions occurred outside the national origins quota system during the 1950s. The Refugee Relief Act of August 7, 1953, and the August 31, 1954 amendments authorized the admission of 214,000 refugees from war-torn Europe and escapees from Communist-dominated countries. Thirty percent of the admissions during the life of the Act were Italians, followed by Germans, Yugoslavs, and Greeks.

The Refugee Relief Act originated as an administration bill, and combined humanitarian concern for the refugees and escapees with "international political considerations." Quoting from President Eisenhower's letter which accompanied the draft legislation:

These refugees, escapees, and distressed peoples now constitute an economic and political threat of constantly growing magnitude. They look to traditional American humanitarian concern for the oppressed. International political considerations are also factors which are involved. We should take reasonable steps to help these people to the extent that we share the obligation of the free world.is

14U.S. Congress. House. H. Doc. 520, 82nd Cong. 2nd Sess., June 25, 1952. p. 5.

15U.S. Congress. Senate. Final Report of the Administrator of the Refugee Relief Act of 1953, as amended. Senate Committee Print, 85th Cong., 1st Sess., Nov. 15, 1957. p. 1.

In particular, the inclusion of the category of "escapees" from Communist domination in this and subsequent refugee legislation reflected the preoccupations of this Cold War period. This concern was also a major factor in the admission of refugees from the unsuccessful Hungarian revolution of October 1956. A total of 38,000 Hungarian refugees were eventually admitted to the United States, 6,130 with Refugee Relief Act visas and the remainder under the parole provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The Act of September 11, 1957, sometimes referred to as the "Refugee-Escapee Act," provided for the admission of certain aliens who were eligible under the terms of the Refugee Relief Act, as well as "refugee-escapees," defined as persons fleeing persecution in Communist countries or countries in the Middle East. This was the basis for the definition of "refugee" incorporated in the Immigration and Nationality Act from 1965 until 1980. A total of 29,000 entered under the temporary 1957 refugee provisions, led by Hungarians, Koreans, Yugoslavs, and Chinese. Many entered with visas authorized by but unused under the expired Refugee Relief Act. In addition, the 1957 legislation repealed the quota deductions required by the mortgages incurred under the Displaced Persons Act.

During the 1960s, refugees from persecution in Communist dominated countries in the Eastern Hemisphere and from countries in the Middle East continued to be admitted, first under the Fair Share Law, enacted July 14, 1960, and subsequently under the Immigration and Nationality Act. Approximately 19,700 refugees entered under the 1960 legislation. Its primary purpose was to enable the United States to participate in an international effort to close the refugee camps which had been in operation in Europe since the end of World War II. U.Š. participation was limited to one-fourth of the total number resettled.

Cuban refugees began entering the United States with the fall of the Batista government in 1959, and continued throughout the 1960s and, in smaller numbers, the 1970s. Approximately 700,000 Cuban refugees had entered the United States prior to new influx which began in April 1980. In the past, the United States has accepted the Cubans as refugees from communism through a variety of legal means.

K. THE IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT AMENDMENTS OF 1965 AND THEIR AFTERMATH

The 1965 amendments to the 1952 Act repealed the national origins quota system and, according to one authority, "represented the most far-reaching revision of immigration policy in the United States since the First Quota Act of 1921."16 In place of nationality and ethnic considerations, the Immigration and Nationality Act amendments of October 3, 1965 (P.L. 89-236; 79 Stat. 911) substituted a system based primarily on reunification of families and needed skills.

The circumstances which led to this major shift in policy in 1965 were a complex combination of changing public perceptions and values, politics, and legislative compromise. Public support for the repeal of the national origins quota system reflected genuine changes in public attitudes toward race and national origins. It can be argued that the 1965 immigration legislation was as much a product of the mid1960s and the heavily Democratic 89th Congress which also produced major civil rights legislation, as the 1952 Act had been a product of the Cold War period of the early 1950s.

The 1965 amendments replaced the national origins quota system as the primary control of Eastern Hemisphere immigration with an annual ceiling on Eastern Hemisphere immigration of 170,000 and a 20,000 per country limit. Within these restrictions, immigrant visas were distributed according to a seven-category preference system placing priority, in order, on family reunification, attracting needed skills, and refugees. The 1965 law also provided that effective July 1, 1968, Western Hemisphere immigration would be limited by an annual ceiling of 120,000, without per-country limits or a preference system.

The Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1976 (P.L. 94-571; 90 Stat. 2703) extended the 20,000 per-country limit and a slightly modified version of the seven-category preference system equally to the Western Hemisphere. The preference system and the per-country limits were applied to the two hemispheres under the separate ceilings of 170,000 for the Eastern Hemisphere, and 120,000 for the Western Hemisphere. Legislation enacted in 1978 (P.L. 95-412; 92 Stat. 907) combined the separate ceilings into a single worldwide ceiling of 290,000 with a single preference system. The Refugee Act of 1980 (P.L. 96-212; 94 Stat. 102) eliminated

16Harper, Elizabeth J. Immigration Laws of the United States, 3d ed. Indianapolis, BobbsMerrill Co., Inc., 1975. p. 38.

refugees as a category of the preference system, and set the worldwide ceiling of 270,000, exclusive of refugees.

The major source of immigration to the United States has shifted since 1965 from Europe to Latin America and Asia, reversing the trend of nearly two centuries. According to the 1987 Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (p. xix xx), Europe accounted for 50 percent of U.S. immigration during the decade fiscal years 1955-64, followed by North America (defined by INS to include Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America) and Asia at 8 percent. In fiscal year 1987, Asia was highest at 43 percent, followed by North America still at 36 percent, and Europe at 10 percent. In order, the countries exceeding 20,000 immigrants in fiscal year 1987 were Mexico, the Philippines, Korea, Cuba, India, Mainland China, the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, and Jamaica.

These figures reflect a shift in both accessibility and demand by the sending countries. For example, Asian immigration was severely limited prior to the 1965 amendments, and has subsequently been augmented by the large number of Indochinese refugees adjusting to immigrant status outside the numerical limits. Western Hemisphere immigration in 1987 is the same as it was in the decade prior to the 1965 amendments, despite the adoption of numerical limits beginning in 1968. On the other hand, Irish immigration has fallen from 6,307 in fiscal year 1964 to 1,839 in fiscal year 1986, with 734 entering under the preference system and the majority entering as the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens. Ireland had been heavily favored under the national origins quota system. It is commonly assumed that many Irish would like to immigrate to the United States, but lack the necessary family relationships or skills to qualify under the preference system.

L. THE 1970S AND 1980s: IMMIGRATION ISSUES, REVIEW, AND REVISION

The patterns of immigration and the policy considerations relating to it in the 1970s resembled in some respects those of the 1950s after the enactment of the Immigration and Nationality Act. In both decades, the entry of aliens outside the qualitative and quantitative restrictions of the basic law-both illegally as undocumented aliens, and legally as refugees-was increasingly the dominant pattern in immigration and the basis for the major issues confronting the Congress. Legislative response to the issue of refugees in 1980 and undocumented aliens in 1986 was followed in 1987 by a shift in congressional attention to legal immigration.

The 1981 report of the Select Committee on Immigration and Refugee Policy has contributed to the recent and ongoing congressional review of immigration issues. The 16-member Select Commission was created by legislation enacted in 1978 (P.L. 95-412; 92 Stat 907) to conduct a study and evaluation of immigration and refugee laws, policies, and procedures. Its basic conclusion was that controlled immigration had been and continued to be in the national interest, and this underlay many of its recommendations. The Commission's recommendations were summed up as follows by Chairman Theodore Hesburgh in his introduction:

We recommend closing the back door to undocumented/illegal migration, opening the front door a little more to accommodate legal migration in the interests of this country, defining our immigration goals clearly and providing a structure to implement them effectively, and setting forth procedures which will lead to fair and efficient adjudication and administration of U.S. immigration laws. 17

M. REFUGEES AND THE REFUGEE ACT OF 1980

During the 5-year period, 1975-1980, refugees and refugee-related issues dominated congressional concern with immigration more than they had since the years following World War II. Beginning with the fall of Vietnam and Cambodia in April 1975, this period saw the admission of more than 400,000 Indochinese refugees, the enactment of major amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act in the form of the Refugee Act of 1980, and the exodus from Mariel Harbor, Cuba to Southern Florida.

The 1980 refugee legislation was enacted in part in response to Congress' increasing frustration with the difficulty of dealing with the ongoing large-scale Indochinese refugee flow under the existing ad hoc refugee admission and resettlement mechanisms. By the end of the 1970s, a consensus had been reached that a more coherent and equitable approach to refugee admission and resettlement was needed. The result was the amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act contained in the Refugee Act of 1980, enacted on March 17, 1980 (P.L. 96-212; 94 Stat. 102).

17 Ibid., p. 3.

The Refugee Act repealed the ideological and geographic limitations which had previously favored refugees fleeing Communism or from countries in the Middle East and redefined "refugee" to conform with the definition used in the United Nations Protocol and Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. The term "refugee" is now defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act as a person who is unwilling or unable to return to his country of nationality or habitual residence because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. The 1980 amendments made provision for both a regular flow and the emergency admission of refugees, following legislatively prescribed consultation with the Congress. In addition, the law authorized Federal assistance for the resettlement of refugees. Shortly after the enactment of the Refugee Act of 1980, large numbers of Cubans entered the United States through Southern Florida, totaling an estimated 125,000, along with continuing smaller numbers of Haitians. The Carter administration was unwilling to classify either group as refugees, and no action was taken on the special legislation sought by the administration. Beginning in 1984, the Reagan administration adjusted the status of the majority of the Cubans under P.L. 89-732, 1966 legislation enacted in response to the Cuban refugee situation in the 1960s. However, the status of the Cuban/Haitian entrants was not finally resolved until enactment of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which included special legalization provisions.

N. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND THE IMMIGRATION REFORM AND CONTROL ACT OF 1986

Immigration legislation focusing on illegal immigration was considered and passed by the 99th Congress, and enacted as P.L. 99-603 (Act of November 6, 1986; 100 Stat. 3359), the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986. P.L. 99–603 consists primarily of amendments to the basic immigration law, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1952, as amended (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).

Reform of the law relating to the control of illegal immigration had been under consideration for 15 years, since the early 1970s. The 1986 legislation marked the culmination of bipartisan efforts both by Congress and the Executive branch under four Presidents. As an indication of the growing magnitude of the problem, the annual apprehension of undocumented aliens by the Department of Justice's Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) increased from 505,949 in 1972, the first year legislation aimed at controlling illegal immigration received House action, to 1,767,400 in 1986. INS apprehensions dropped to 1,190,488 in FY87.

The prospect of employment at U.S. wages generally has been agreed to be the economic magnet that draws aliens here illegally. The principal legislative remedy proposed in the past and included in the new law is employer sanctions, or penalties for employers who knowingly hire aliens unauthorized to work in the United States. The other major provisions of the new law directly relate to employer sanctions. First, in an attempt to deal humanely with aliens who established roots here before the change in policy represented by the new Act, a legalization program was established that provides legal status for otherwise eligible aliens who had been here illegally since prior to 1982. Second, the legislation sought to respond to the apparent heavy dependence of seasonal agriculture on illegal workers by creating a 7-year special agricultural worker program, and by streamlining the previously existing "H-2" temporary worker program to expedite availability of alien workers and to provide statutory protections for U.S. and alien labor.

O. LEGAL IMMIGRATION

Following the enacting in 1986 of major legislation relating to illegal immigration, congressional legislative attention shifted to legal immigration, including the numerical limits on permanent immigration. This is an issue for a number of reasons. The numerical limits and preference system regulating the admission of legal immigrants originated in 1965, with some subsequent amendments. Since that time, and particularly in recent years, concern has arisen over the greater number of immigrants admitted on the basis of family reunification compared to the number of “independent" non-family immigrants, and over the limited number of visas available under the preference system to certain countries. There is also concern about the backlogs under the existing preference system and, by some, about the admission of immediate relatives of U.S. citizens outside the numerical limits. Major legislation addressing these concerns passed the Senate and was introduced in the House in the 100th Congress (1987-1988). However, only temporary legislation addressing limited

concerns passed both, leaving further consideration of a full-scale revision of legal immigration to the future.

P. SELECTED REFERENCES

Bennett, Marion T. American immigration policies: a history. Washington, Public Affairs Press, 1963. 362 p.

Bernard, William S., ed. Immigration policy-a reappraisal. New York, Harper & Brothers, 1950. 341 p.

Divine, Robert A. American immigration policy, 1924-1952. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1957. 220 p.

Gordon, Charles, and Harry N. Rosenfield. Immigration law and procedure. Rev. ed., New York, Matthew Bender, 1980. 6 v.

Handlin, Oscar. The Americans. Boston, Little, Brown and Co., 1963. 434 p.

ed. Immigration as a factor in American history. Englewood Cliffs, PrenticeHall, Inc., 1959. 206 p.

The Uprooted. 2d ed. Boston, Little, Brown and Co., 1973. 333 p.

Harper, Elizabeth J. Immigration laws of the United States. 3d ed. Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., 1975. 756 p.

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Strangers in the land, patterns of American nativism, 1860-1925. New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press, 1955. 431 p.

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Jones, Maldwyn Allen. American immigration. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1960. 358 p.

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Schwartz, Abba P. The Open society. New York, William Morrow & Co., Inc., 1968. 241 p.

Scott, Franklin D. The peopling of America: perspectives on immigration. Washington, American Historical Association, 1972. 75 p. (AHA pamphlets 241).

Taylor, Philip. The Distant magnet, European emigration to the U.S.A. New York, Harper & Row, 1971. 326 p.

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U.S. Interagency Task Force on Immigration Policy. Staff report. [Washington] Departments of Justice, Labor, and State, March 1979. 540 p.

U.S. Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service. U.S. immigration law and policy: 1952-1986; report prepared for the Subcommittee on Immigration and Refugee Affairs, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate. Dec. 1987. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1988. 138 p. (100th Cong., 1st session. Committee Print. S. Prt. 100-100)

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