Answer to Question #172035 in History for william

Question

How do you think the changes in immigration policy changed America? Why do you think Johnson would propose these changes?

Answer 1

           Soon after gaining independence from Great Britain, the United States started restricting immigration, and the laws adopted since then have represented the politics and migrant flows of the period. Early rules appeared to favor Europeans, but a landmark 1965 bill opened the floodgates to refugees from all around the world. Concerns over immigrants, undocumented immigration, and extremism have dominated legislation and executive decisions in recent years. Long-standing immigration barriers started to collapse in 1943 when a law allowing a small Chinese to immigrate was passed. Other Asians were granted a small number of visas in 1952, and the race was officially excluded as a reason for exclusion. Despite a presidential commission's recommendation to abolish the national-origins quota scheme, Congress refused.

The most notable reforms in immigration policies deviated from this trend. President Barack Obama took executive action in 2012 to encourage young adults who were brought to the nation unlawfully to register for immigration protection and a job visa. In 2014, he extended the scheme (known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA). He established a new one to include equivalent protections to those undocumented immigrants who have children born in the United States. A judicial fight by 26 states has placed the DACA extension and current scheme (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DAPA) on hold.

           As a first-year president, Lyndon B. Johnson was fully informed of these difficulties. Still, he forged ahead, recognizing that the battle for comprehensive immigration reform would prove much more taxing and unpredictable than almost all of the policy reforms on his massive agenda. He spent much more political resources on this topic than anyone on his team anticipated, with perplexing twists and turns along the way to big change. The significant difference also hinges on establishing "strange bedfellow" relationships that are fragile and require costly compromises, as the Johnson administration discovered. However, they argued that immigrants and refugees aided their broader visions for the nation. They declined to allow nativists to use propaganda against them to codify their national, racial, and religious hatred.