Obama obliquely referred to Kennedy’s role in pushing his influential political accomplishment: The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.
“Towards the end of his life, Ted reflected on how Congress has changed over time. And those who served earlier I think have those same conversations. It’s a more diverse, more accurate reflection of America than it used to be, and that is a grand thing, a great achievement,” Obama said.
In this case, Obama is right: It’s worth reflecting on how much America has changed since 1965, and examine the effects of the legislation Kennedy promoted that brought it about.
The passage of the act marked a fundamental change in America’s immigration policy: Rather than serving the interests of Americans and national unity by setting limits on immigration, the act put “family unification” as the top priority, serving the interests of foreigners first.
Kennedy declared:
“First, our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually. Under the proposed bill, the present level of immigration remains substantially the same…The costs Americans pay in lowered wages, strained social safety nets, their children’s blood, their declining quality of life, the chaos of sharing space with an ever-swelling criminal population aided and abetted by the nation’s elite, the berating Americans of every stripe endure when they dare ask their country merely be preserved — that’s the real legacy of Ted Kennedy.
Secondly, the ethnic mix of this country will not be upset… Contrary to the charges in some quarters, [the bill] will not inundate America with immigrants from any one country or area, or the most populated and deprived nations of Africa and Asia…
In the final analysis, the ethnic pattern of immigration under the proposed measure is not expected to change as sharply as the critics seem to think… The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs.”
That the ruling class celebrates his legacy indicates that they don’t plan to stop transforming America any time soon.