THE IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY (MC CARRAR-WALTER) ACT OF 1952, AS AMENDED TO 1965

In: The annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Band 367, S. 127-136

Abstract

The Immigration & Nat'lity Act of 1952 was the product of the most extensive Congressional study of the subject in the nation's history. The Act codified & brought together for the first time all the nation's laws on immigration & naturalization. It continued & enlarged upon qualitative restrictions; revised but continued the nat'l-origins quota system of immigrant selection in effect since 1929; eliminated race & sex as a bar to immigration; Western hemisphere immigration was continued quota-free; quota preferences were established for relatives & skilled aliens; security provisions against criminals & subversives were strengthened; & due process was safeguarded. The measure was passed over President Truman's veto. The Act was continuously amended in successive yrs to increase immigration & to accommodate refugees & excluded or restricted classes. The amendments, together with the Act's nonquota loopholes & permissive admin'ive exceptions, effectively nullified the nat'l-origins quota system, so that 2 out of every 3 immigrants became nonquota entrants. The bulk of immigration under the Act was not from the northern & western European areas favored by the nat'lorigins formula. This circumstance accelerated demands for its abolition. HA.