At the same time, a Houston theater is bringing a play to the stage that takes inspiration from a time period when a new generation of non-European immigrants was welcomed into the country.
Director Miranda Cornell joined Eyewitness News with a preview of "The Heart Sellers" at Stages.
The story focuses on two young female immigrants of Asian descent in the 1970s over the Thanksgiving holiday.
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Cornell mentioned the wordplay in the title. It's based on the Hart-Celler Act.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed it into law at a ceremony in front of the Statue of Liberty in New York. The law changed immigration policy by abolishing national origins quotas.
The comedic drama is coming to the stage at a time when American immigration policy is back at the forefront.
Cornell said she wanted to be part of a project that puts a human lens on a difficult topic with both complexity and joy.
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