More Than Hispanic

In immigration history, 1965 was a landmark year. I’m not speaking of Hispanic immigration trends. Rather, that’s the year the United States more fully opened its borders to Asian immigrants.

Before then, the “National Origins” system (implemented in 1924) effectively limited immigration from Asia to token levels. But the Immigration & Nationality Act of 1965 changed everything1. Due to that Act and other factors, annual immigration levels in this country rose from 300,000 a year in the 1960s to almost a million today2.

Asians/Pacific Islanders are now the second-largest immigrant group in the United States, just behind Hispanics — representing shares of 23 percent and 53.8 percent, respectively, of the post-2000 immigrant population3. As of 2007, for every eight U.S. residents, one is an immigrant4.

While Hispanics constitute the majority of the undocumented, Asians are the second-largest group, at 11 percent. Another 9 percent come from regions such as Europe, Canada and Africa5. This is an issue that must be addressed among all people.

My family was among the first-generation of immigrants coming in the post-1965 wave. And we were among the many who heard the gospel through the work of faithful, visionary Christians in our new country. That’s because the change in immigration landscape also led to a mushrooming of Asian-American churches, notably among Chinese and Koreans.

May God raise up more churches that are willing to go beyond their traditional horizon. Their mission to engage the immigrant population with church-centered, compassionate, legal ministries will prove to be even more fruitful as history progresses.