The Luce–Celler Act of 1946 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.
The act provided a quota of 100 Filipinos, and 100 Indians to immigrate into the United States per year. As the Philippines became independent from the United States in 1946, Filipinos would have been barred from immigrating without the Act.
The act also allowed Filipino Americans and Indian Americans to naturalize and become United States citizens. Upon becoming citizens, the new Americans could own homes and farmland, and petition for family from their nation of birth.