Modern, according to what I read, organizations that were making those decisions were basing them on their ideological considerations and not on the yerushalamis. I agree with your view and so did r Kamenetsky in the quote.
It is always good to have a wider view on the whole am yisroel rather than a parochial one. During ww2 in Vilno, right before Lithuania was occupied, r Grozdinsky was asked who should get priority for visas, old or young rabbis. Old ones will be killed first, but younger ones would lose their children to communist education.. Rav answered that old ones should have priority because 1. They’ll be able to help remaining ones when they get to America and 2. They’ll be more useful for American Jews