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Analysis of Roger Daniels Argument on the 1965 Immigration Act

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In 1965, the 89th Congress got rid of the quota system on immigration (only a certain amount of immigrants can come in from specific countries) and replaced it with a system that was more equitable. According to Roger Daniels, Congress successfully replaced the former quota system because it was seen as very discriminatory toward Asians and Eastern Europeans especially. The Immigration Law was not intended to have major consequences, according to Daniels, but it ended up causing a high influx of South American and Asian immigration over the following decades. Although Daniels presents a good argument and is correct in that Congress succeeded in their initial plans, he does not give many specific reason, and he argues that the consequences of the bill were not foreseen, which is incorrect; many people did see and were afraid of the consequences the bill might bring. In addition, the primary sources’ argument provides for scenarios that Daniels did not account for having to do with the underlying intent of the bill; like that it could have been spurred by diplomatic relations and war.
According to Daniels, the 1965 law was enacted to end the 1921 and 1924 laws that started the quota system because the quota system was seen as discriminatory toward people of Asian descent, specifically: “American law had [previously]...permitted only ‘white persons’ and those of ‘African descent’ to become naturalized. The purpose of this specific clause was to keep out Japanese, as other Asian
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