Speech #800085317

But it is a situation which the House can and should correct. The facts are these. This bill gives the Attorney General the power to suspend deportation where an alien is now here. but entered this country illegally. and has been here for 7 years. He must not be guilty of any act involving moral turpitude. or be a political undesirable. But if he is here illegally. let us say he jumped ship or crossed the border illegally and has been here for 7 years. the Attorney General can then suspend deportation. and report the facts to the Congress. If neither House passes a resolution saying that the suspension shall be lifted. in other words. that the alien shall be deported nevertheless. then the alien may remain here as a permanent legal resident. If either House passesa resolution requiring the suspension of deportation to be lifted and the suspension is lifted. the alien must be summarily deported. Now here is the point of my amendment. This bill provides that if such an alien is permitted to remain here as a permanent resident. he shall be given a quota number which shall be deducted from the quota of the country of which he is a national for the yearnot in which such alien arrived in the United States illegally. but for the year in which the Attorney General ordered him deported. But if the quota for that year has been filled then it goes over until the succeeding year. but no quota shall be reduced by virtue thereof. says this bill. more than 50 percent. In practical effect. therefore. there is the possibility of reducing the already limited quotas under the existing immigration law by 50 percent through these cases. This is not an unrealistic possibility. In 1927. in a typical caseand I take the case of Greece. our ally. about which we recently argued so long and so hard on this floor and finally agreed to extend to her several hundred millions in aidthe total quota is the munificent number of 307 per annum. In the fiscal year 1947 there were 240 cases under section 19 (c) of the immigration law. which is the section we are discussing for amendment now. leaving a total of 6 quota numbers after deducting the preferences which also first came out of the quota. That left 6 nonpreference aliens to be admitted under the Greek quota. Under this bill before the House that would not have been 6. it would have been less than half of the Greek quota. but you can understand with a small quota like that of Greece it would still leave a very. very small number of remaining quota numbers. This is not discussion of ideologies. of the advisability of increasing or decreasing immigration quotas. or of letting in or keeping out displaced persons. It is a question of elemental fairness in the basic problem of the quotas which already exist. There is an additional reason why this particular provision in the bill is unfair. The law as it stands now states that where an alien is admitted for permanent residence under section 19 (c) of the law because he has a spouse. parent. or minor child here. and I now read from the law: The Commissioner shall record the aliens. admission for permanent residence as of the date of his last entry into the United States. For all purposes. that is. for becoming a citizen or for other purposes. he is considered admitted as of the date he last came in. but for this special purpose of quota he is charged to the current quota. at the time the Attorney General suspends deportation and the alien has been here at least 7 years. despite the fact that we all know of the pressure on these quota: and the pressure on us from the folks back home with thousands and thousands of relatives abroad. So I say with reference to my amendmentwhich I urge the House to adopt. and which I appreciate that the committee in an effort to compromise its differences. because it is having a lot of trouble with immigration. could not adoptwhat the House should do is to provide that quota to be charged with that particular alien should be the quota as of the time of his last admission. just exactly as the charge is made under the law as it stands now for purposes of citizenship. I can understand why the committee was in no position to do what I urge ought to be done because of trying to compromise very serious differences among its members on immigration. But I think it is elementary justice. and the least we can do in this very difficult immigration situation. that the House adopt this amendment. and the House should. do it now.