The Luce–Celler Act of 1946 (H. R. 3517; Public Law 483) is an act of the United States Congress which provided a quota of 100 Filipinos[1] and 100 Indians to immigrate into the United States per year[2] and which also allowed Filipino Americans and Indian Americanstonaturalize and become US citizens.[3]
The act was proposed by Republican Clare Boothe Luce and Democrat Emanuel Celler in 1943 and signed into law by President Harry Truman on July 2, 1946, two days before the Philippines became independent with the signing of the Treaty of Manila on July 4, 1946. Because of the imminent independence of the Philippines, Filipinos would have been barred from immigrating without the Act.[4]
Indian Americans had not been allowed to naturalize since United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind in 1923, which the law effectively reversed.[5] Upon becoming citizens, the new Americans could own homes and farmland and petition for family from their nation of birth.[6]
The Philippines was granted independence in 1946, and Filipinos, then barred from immigration along with individuals from other countries in the "Eastern Hemisphere," were allotted 100 immigration slots (Yu 1980).
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