E/CN.4/1995/78/Add.1 page 22 which broadcast its messages in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere. 50/ An increase in antisemitic incidents was noted in 1993, when there were 1,867 cases, an 8 per cent increase over 1992. 51/ J. Immigration and the right of asylum 78. There are no longer any discriminatory criteria in official United States immigration policy, as was the case until 1965, when the quota system based on national origin was abolished. 52/ According to figures provided by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the majority of immigrants who lawfully entered the United States in 1992 and 1993 were of Asian origin. They were followed by those from North America, Europe, the Caribbean, Central and South America. The largest contingents of immigrants were from Mexico, China, the Philippines, Viet Nam, the former Soviet Union, the Dominican Republic and India. 79. During the decade 1980-1990, the United States experienced a massive influx of so-called illegal or undocumented immigrants, which led to a tightening up of border controls, 53/ systematic deportations and a climate of hostility towards immigrants in several States, particularly southern ones. Several cases of violence on the part of the border police towards undocumented Mexican immigrants were drawn to the Special Rapporteur’s attention by the Mexican authorities. A petition submitted in August 1992 to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights by a group of lawyers representing several non-governmental human rights organizations had the following to say: "Petitioners allege that the U.S. Government’s Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and Border Patrol have tolerated and thereby encouraged shootings, improper use of firearms and other weapons, beatings, physical abuse and racially motivated verbal abuse of immigrants, refugees and U.S. citizens travelling across or in close proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border. The U.S. Government has authorized a de facto ’iron fist’ policy along the U.S.-Mexico border, authorizing U.S. Border Patrol agents to use deadly force by firing upon Mexican nationals who sometimes throw stones at U.S. agents, or attempt to flee back into Mexico, during border-crossing encounters with U.S. officials. This ’iron fist’ policy has resulted in escalating violence along the U.S.-Mexico border, and the unnecessary maiming and killing of numerous Mexican nationals. Because of their indigency, fear of exposure to arrest and deportation, and lack of knowledge of their legal rights, few migrants unjustifiably injured in these incidents, or families of those killed, seek redress in the U.S. courts. Because of the costs of litigation, technicalities in U.S. laws, and various judicial ’immunities’ which U.S. border agents enjoy, those who do seek compensation in U.S. courts are seldom successful. The pattern of the U.S. Government’s response to documentation of severe abuses, including testimony, public charges, formal complaints and litigation, has been perfunctory investigations and minor, if any, punishment of offending officers." 54/ These allegations concern the case of six individuals who were seriously injured or killed by rifle fire from border guards.