Speech #790030720

Speaker. I represent a constituency of close to 350.000 people. all of whom had a chance to vote either for or against me. which is more than some other people can say about their districts. and I do not propose to be hoodwinked by objections to legislation coming out of my committee. objections made not on the merits of the bills but based simply on the fact that they come out of a particular committee which certain people do not like. I want toassure the gentleman from Mississippi that the constituency of my district. as well as the districts of the other members of the Immigration and Naturalization Committee. have just as much right to let their legally elected representatives make a few decisions concerning the best interests of their country as has the constituency of the gentleman from Mississippi. Among the bills objected to is a bill to permit naturalization of Filipinos. I wonder how the many brave Filipinos fighting side by side with our soldiers will feel about this slap to their national and racial pride at the moment when they are risking their very lives to fight our common enemy? And how about the Filipinos in this country? They have been here for years anC we cannot deport them. They are married to American women. they have Americanborn children. and their children are serving In this war. What objection can there be to letting them become racially eligible for naturalization. if they are morally and otherwise qualified for citizenship? Why. we talk about assimilation in this country. What are we doing to assimilate the alien population within our own borders. for the benefit of our own country? This particular bill would simply allow naturalization of a number of fine Filipinos who have been here for 18 or 20 years. who have raised four or five children. some of whom are in the servIce. We cannot deport them. so why keep on classifying them as alienssetting them apart from their neighbors? They are anxious to become citizens of the United States and the evidence clearly shows they have gone out and they have done everything they could to help this war and to make themselves an integral part of their respective communities.