Mr. Chairman. I am very much interested in this legislation because when I first came to Congress I was a member of the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization for a number of years. Those were the days when we were molding and forming the immigration policies of the Nation and I had the honor of being the author of some of that formative legislation. The United States of America has laid down to all the nations of the world one very great cardinal principle of government. That is that every nation that enjoys sovereignty. and as an incident of that sovereignty has the right to determine who shall become citizens of that country. No foreign citizen has a right to American citizenship. He only has the privilege of securing American citizenship and then only if and when he qualifies by complying with our laws restricting immigration. We. the United States of America. laid down that principle many years ago. and since that time. this program has developed gradually and wonderfully even in my time. I remember when the principal qualification for American citizenship by foreigners was an educational test. later we required a character test in addition. and then just before I came to Congress they established the principle known as quotas.
Keywords matched
Naturalization Immigration immigration