Prior to World War I, most immigrants to the U.S. were white and European. Many faced powerful nativist discrimination but over time joined the melting pot of American whites. Sometimes they became vociferous racists themselves in the process, like the Irish in the Chinese exclusion movement. The 1965 immigration law drastically changed the color of immigration. This law, passed on the heels of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, ended four decades of immigration quotas favoring Western Europe and significantly increased legal immigration opportunities for people from Asia and Africa.
Contemporary immigration is massive.
According to the 2000 Census, there are currently 28.4 million foreign-born residents in the United States, representing 10.4 percent of the total population, mostly from Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Asia. The Census numbers also show that immigration played a major role in pushing Latinos ahead of blacks as the largest minority in the country, and in producing a remarkable new level of national origin and immigration status diversity within the black population. These are profound demographic changes. But their political impact remains far from certain. Immigrants of color clearly have the numbers to spark a strong racial justice movement.