Immigration is transforming America in a way that it had not for a century. The Immigration Restriction Act of 1921 put a ceiling on the overall number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States. The even tougher Immigration Act of 1924 followed, further diminishing the number of “undesirable” immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. By that time, immigration from China and Japan had also been severely limited by laws passed in 1882 and 1907. The passage of the Hart-Celler Act in 1965, however, marked a momentous reversal of these policies by re-opening immigration to a broader number of countries. Since then, immigration to the United States from around the globe has surged. Today, one-quarter of the U.S. population consists of either immigrants or children of immigrants, and they are remaking the country. Such is the story told in One Quarter of the Nation.
Drawing data from various census...