It's not racist, it's just the law! The U.S. and UK's Response to South Asian Immigration.

[aleena_anas]

In July 1946, President Truman signed the Luce-Celler Act (also known as the naturalization bill) which granted Indians (and Filipinos) with the right to become naturalized U.S. citizens (Bald, 5). Although this act allowed Indians living in the U.S. a path to naturalization, it was influenced by elements from Singh's proposal,
"that U.S. immigration policies toward India should favor scientists, engineers, and businesspeople" (5). These ideals were included in the Hart-Celler Act of 1965, which lead to thousands of immigrants from India (5). While the Luce-Celler and the Hart-Celler Acts appeared to end the exclusion era, they just stopped excluding skilled professionals, leaving working-class immigrants without a path to citizenship in the U.S..

The Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962, passed by British Parliament, created strict restrictions on citizens of Commonwealth countries right to immigrate to the U.K.. Previously, Commonwealth citizens were free to migrate to the U.K. for job opportunities (Sivanandan, 351). But with the 1962 act and the government's 1965 renewal of the Commonwealth Immigrants Act in the White Paper, only skilled professionals with work permits (such as doctors, nurses, teachers, etc.) were exempt from immigration control (354). These restrictions against working-class immigrants - especially immigrants of color - from other Commonwealth countries only worsened. The Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968, a result of the Kenyan Asian Affair, tightened restrictions on entry into the U.K. after thousands of Indians left Kenya following the implementation of Africanisation policies (352).

Both the United States and the United Kingdom implemented laws limiting the amount of South Asians allowed into their countries. By requiring professional degrees of South Asian immigrants to live in the U.S. and the U.K., but not of white/European immigrants, South Asian immigrants were reduced to second-class citizens. These laws were "also a system which took discrimination out of the market place and gave it the sanction of the state. It made racism respectable and clinical by institutionalizing it" (Sivanandan, 354).

Links for added details about the Luce-Celler Act and the The Commonwealth Immigrants Acts:
https://www.niam.org/galleries/the-long-and-winding-road/timeline/#:~:text=1946%2C July 2%3A Luce-,favor of the Indian cause.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_Immigrants_Act_1962
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_Immigrants_Act_1968