Final answer:
The 1965 immigration law, known as the Hart-Cellar Act, replaced the national origins quota system with a system that prioritizes immigrants with valuable skills and family ties to US citizens, and removed discriminatory restrictions against Asian immigrants.
Step-by-step explanation:
The name for the 1965 immigration law that abandoned the national origins quota system and established racially neutral criteria for immigration is the Hart-Cellar Act of 1965. This sweeping reform to the US immigration law removed restrictions against Asian immigrants and replaced the country-specific quota system with a blanket limit of 20,000 immigrants from one nation. The law significantly favored immigrants with essential skills and family members of existing citizens.
Prior to the Hart-Cellar Act, the National Origins Act of 1924 restricted immigration from Southern and Central Europe and effectively excluded Asians.
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 helped remove these discriminatory practices, establishing a new system that ended preferences based on national origin and permitted a more diverse set of immigrants to enter the US, including those from Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, thus altering the demographic mix of US culture.