From Contexts:
The passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1965 was a watershed moment for Asian immigration. By replacing national origins with a system that privileged family reunification and high-skilled applicants, the change ushered in a new stream of Asian immigrants with a markedly different profile. [Jennifer Lee is in the sociology department at the University of California, Irvine.]

Despite its liberalizing reputation, the 1965 Immigration Act was extremely restrictive for Mexicans. They now had to enter within narrow hemispheric quotas that did not adequately satiate our country’s demand for low-wage labor, ushering in an era of large-scale, unauthorized Mexican migration. [Jody Agius Vallejo is in the sociology department at the University of Southern California. She is the author of Barrios to Burbs: The Making of the Mexican-American Middle Class. She received her Ph.D. in sociology from UCI in 2008.]

For the full story, please visit http://contexts.org/articles/fifty-years-of-new-immigration/.