Tom Ault
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
July 1, 1927 (postponed to July 1, 1929) to Dec. 31, 1952; Using national origins quota system: The annual quota for any country or nationality had the same relation to 150,000, as the number of inhabitants in the continental United States in 1920, having that national origin, had to the total number of inhabitants in the continental United States in 1920.
1925 to 1927. Immigrants per year allowed in from each country of origin: Germany: 51,227, England: 34,007, Ireland: 28,567, Italy: 3,845, Africa and Asia combined: 3,745.
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952; Racial distinctions were omitted from the U.S. Code
• Largest U.S. Immigrant Groups: 1960: Italy, Germany, Canada, United Kingdom, Poland
1965 Immigration and Nationality Act; (the Hart-Celler Act) abolished the system of national origin quotas. A limitation on Western Hemisphere immigration (120,000 per year), the Eastern Hemisphere limited to 170,000. The law changed the preference system for immigrants. Specifically preference to immigrants with skills needed in the U.S. workforce, refugees and asylum seekers, as well as family members of U.S. citizens. Family reunification became the cornerstone to not flood our cities with immigrants. Edward Kennedy, said, “It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs.” All immigration inflows declined dramatically from 1921-1965. From the 1920s-1940s, the U.S. let in fewer than 50,000 new permanent residents.
• Largest U.S. immigrant groups: 2015: Mexico, India, China, Philippines, El Salvador
Immigrants
2015; 43,290,372
2016; 43,739,345
2017; 44,525,855
2017 problem statistics:
Visa overstays
2015; 527,127
2016; 739,478
2017; 701,900
The problem is of immeasurable consequences. If we don’t help those in need, we are dismissing the principles of our country. If we help the people who come with nothing to contribute, we diminish the resources that are necessary to maintain.
We are a country of around 330,377,563 people. We cannot increase our population by 13.477 percent annually and continue to be solvent. The land mass, the farm potential, the job markets…none can be sustained without rules of citizenship and immigration!
When 1.576 percent of the immigrants, (1½ persons per 100) knowingly overstay their visas, how can we administer to their needs?