Secondary Source
“The bar against migration from Asia was finally abolished with the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. But in its place, the act established more refined mechanisms for sorting between desirable and undesirable new immigrants by creating ‘preference’ categories that favored immigrants with valuable skills and family ties. Asian immigrants have been able to take advantage of both preference categories to dramatically expand their presence in the United States, from less than 1 million in 1960 to 22 million in 2020.
As a category, ‘Asian American’ is notoriously overbroad. Within that category, there is significant inequality among the different groups. While Asian Americans earn more than any other racial group in the United States, the average income among Asian American households varies widely—the median annual income for an Indian American household is more than twice that of a Burmese American household. South Asian Americans are themselves a diverse group, one that includes refugees, border-crossers, and a large working class. But they are undoubtedly among the primary beneficiaries of immigration policies favoring high-skilled migration. In the past few years, roughly 75 percent of all visas allocated to high-skilled workers have been awarded to Indians, mostly men, mostly upper-caste Hindus.”
- Sherally Munshi, Historian, “Indians in the United States: Movements and Empire,” 2022