Are we there yet? The McCarran-Walter Act of 1952.

Oh the outrage from the Left when Trump suggested a suspension of immigration from Muslim countries.  So often he was misquoted as the “temporarily” condition was usually omitted for impact (Eleanor Clift, etc.).  The Left repeatedly misquoted his suggestion ad nauseum, and sans accuracy.

Trump’s suggestion is not without historical backup, however.  In 1952, after WWII and on the cusp of the Cold War, an immigration act was passed by Congress over a Truman veto.  The two pillars of this act were to first maintain the demographics of the nation.  Percentages of the existing citizenry’s demographic makeup were transposed to the allowable immigration quotas.  Second, and to the Trump suggestion, national security concerns could indeed halt the “infiltration” of the unwanted into the United States.

“At the basis of The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952  (aka The McCarran-Walter Act)  was the continuation and codification of the National Origins Quota System. It revised the 1924 system to allow for national quotas at a rate of one-sixth of one percent of each nationality’s population in the United States in 1920.”

Regarding national security and to bolster the legitimacy of Trump’s suggestion,

“.concerns that the United States could face communist infiltration through immigration and that unassimilated aliens could threaten the foundations of American life. To these individuals, limited and selective immigration was the best way to ensure the preservation of national security and national interests.”

The McCarran-Walter Act,

 “…focused upon denying immigrants who were unlawful, immoral, diseased in any way, politically radical etc. and accepting those who were willing and able to assimilate into the US economic, social, and political structures, which restructured how immigration law was handled. Furthermore, the most notable exclusions were anyone even remotely associated with communism which in the early days of the Cold War was seen as a serious threat to US democracy.”

For the 21^st Century we must substitute ISIS, Al Qaeda, et al for “communist”.  The key phrases in the language describing the Act are “unassimilated aliens” and “preservation of national security”.  Muslim communities spring up in the United States (Dearborn, MI) ala the “no go” zones of France, and the unassimilated demand the importation of their own set of laws (Sharia).  There are groups avowing to do us harm and who promise infiltration. Trump’s suggestion falls in line with the concerns of the early 1950’s and the legislative reaction to those concerns.  Are we there yet?