Effects of the Immigration Act of 1965 on New York city

Effects of the Immigration Act of 1965 on New York city

Since the 1920s, U.S. immigration policy had focused on a quota system that strongly favored northern European residents. In the early 1960s, residents of Ireland, Germany, and the United Kingdom received almost 70 percent of available quota visas.

However, the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 changed all that. Sponsored by Representative Emanuel Celler of New York and Senator Philip Hart of Michigan and signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson at a ceremony on Liberty Island, the Act abolished the quota system in favor of a regime that established immigration preferences by categories. The 1965 law reserved 6% of visas for refugees, 10% for professionals, scientists, and artists, 10% for needed workers, and 74% for family members of naturalized U.S. citizens. This policy favoring family reunification would result in significant demographic changes over the coming decades, as immigration from Europe declined and the U.S. welcomed an increasing flow of migrants from Asia and Latin America.

       https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/immigration-timeline

So this Naturalaztion Act dramatically changed the ethnic origin of the immigrants. Most of the earlier immigrants to New York City were from Europe (initially from Western Europe, and then more from Eastern Europe). A large percentage of the immigrants that came to New York City after 1965 were from non-European countries.
   In 1970, of the 1.44 million immigrants in the city, 64 percent (922,800) were from Europe, and the top five source countries were all European. Those born in Italy were the largest source (212,200), followed by Poland (119,600), the U.S.S.R. (117,400), Germany (98,300), and Ireland (68,800). Other European sources in the city’s top 20 list were the United Kingdom, Austria, Greece, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Latin America provided 15 percent of the city’s foreign-born population, with Cuba (63,000) and the Dominican Republic (51,200) in 5th and 6th place, respectively.
   By 1980, the city’s immigrant population had increased to 1.67 million, but the number of Europeanborn declined to 667,200. Nevertheless, the Europeanborn remained the largest group, comprising 40 percent of the foreign-born, and Europe accounted for 10 of the top 20 sources of the foreign-born in the city. Italy remained the largest source country, but the U.S.S.R., the next largest European source, dropped to fifth. The Dominican Republic, with 120,600 residents, was the second largest source country, followed by Jamaica (93,100) and China (85,100). Latin America was the birthplace of 21 percent of the foreign-born, the nonhispanic Caribbean accounted for 17 percent, and Asia for 13 percent.
   
Sources: https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/data-maps/nyc-population/nny2013/chapter2.pdf
https://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/09/28/modern-immigration-wave-brings-59-million-to-u-s-driving-population-growth-and-change-through-2065/