The Immigration Act of 1965 significantly shifted the racial landscape of Muslims and their public image as wealthy, educated, and assimilable in the United States. Before this act, there was a restriction on Muslim immigration. Many Muslim immigrants were turned away at U.S ports in the late 19th and 20th century because Islam was seen as hostile to Christianity and incompatible with the values of the United States. A quota system was implemented that harshly restricted the entry of Muslims into this country. The Immigration Act of 1965 abolished this quota system, allowing for a rise in the immigration of Muslims into the United States, which shifted the racial landscape of the Muslim American population.  Before 1965, the Muslim American community was mostly composed of native-born African Americans; however, today the Muslim American community is now only one fifth Black/African American, as the majority of Muslim Americans come from more South Asian/Middle Eastern backgrounds. Not only does this contribute to the American imagination of Muslims as “brown” in the United States, but also in the erasure of the existence and long history of Black muslims in this country.

 

In addition to shifting the racial landscape of Muslims in America from Black to an imagined “brown,” the Immigration Act of 1965 helped develop a narrative of Muslim Americans as wealthy, educated, and assimilable. For example, Neda Maghbouleh discusses the case of Iranians. The first wave of mass arrival of Iranians to the United States were students and immigrants with trainings and experience in engineering, medicine, and other speciality occupations. These Iranian immigrants who came under the Immigration Act of 1965 had higher rates of educational attainment and income than other legally white Americans. Their high socioeconomic status allowed them to better claim assimilability and access the advantages of whiteness.

 

Alongside Iranians, African, Arab and South Asian immigrants also benefited from the Immigration Act of 1965. These immigrants were highly educated and worked in speciality occupations. Since there is a history of middle class Muslims immigrating to the United States, this has shaped the idea of Muslims in America as wealthy and educated in the public mind. According to Khaled Beydoun, this then erases the presence of indigent Muslim Americans who experience both structural anti-Muslim racism and poverty. Their voices are not heard during  debates among Muslim Americans in the public media. Instead, we mostly hear from middle class educated Muslim Americans who use their social and economic status to counteract the narrative of Muslim Americans as dangerous and potential terrorists. However, this approach does not address the additional vulnerability that poor and undocumented Muslim Americans experience.

 

Although the Immigration Act of 1965 had unintentionally become part of the process of creating biases and misconceptions about Muslim Americans, it was actually part of the anti-discrimination demands that were coming from the Civil Rights movement. Advocates for equal treatment regardless of race or nationality argued that the the quota system was discriminatory as it favored Northern and Western European immigrants over other nationalities. The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 abolished this quota system. In addition, the Act also created a new immigration policy based on reuniting immigrant families as well as appealing to skilled laborers. The video below discusses this history.

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