This act was the result of lots of bad feelings related to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which lots of people, including President Harry Truman, believed to be un-American. The act marked the first time in U.S. history that a single law outlined all the rules for immigration and citizenship—before this, there were pieces of legislation here and there with different regulations.

But lots of people agreed with President Truman that Americans had a responsibility to help immigrants trying to escape dangerous and potentially deadly situations around the world. So, in 1965, Congress made some changes to the original act.

The focus turned to legally reuniting families that had been separated, in the process bringing skilled laborers into the United States, which would boost the economy as a result. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 had a more positive focus, and these rules are the ones that apply today—at least, in theory.

After September 11th, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created to improve the security of the United States so such a huge and devastating terrorist attack wouldn't happen again. Part of that involved taking over a lot of immigration services and enforcement, and there's been some disagreement about how the DHS should go about it.

More recently, under the Trump administration, there's been tons of controversy over his immigration plan and how he's executing it. Specifically, there's been discussion over whether the plans to restrict immigration from countries experiencing civil war, like Syria, go against what the 1965 act tried to correct.

So even 17 years after Elie Wiesel spoke at the White House about interfering to put a stop to injustice, just how to go about doing that is still an incredibly contentious issue.