Speech #820208847

Mr. President. in opening the debate on the bill S. 2550 to revise the laws relating to immigration. naturalization. and nationality. and for other purposes. I shall. before discussing the provisions of the bill. make a few preliminary remarks respecting the background of the bill. Senate bill 2550 represents an undertaking which has never before been accomplished in the history of the Republic. namely. to revise and codify all the numerous immigration and naturalization laws. Since the first immigration law of 1798. these laws have been enacted piecemeal and consist of literally hundreds of Enactments which have been supplemented and implemented by thousands of rules. regulations. proclamations. Executive orders. and operations instructions. The bill which Is before the Senate today has not been hastily conceived. It is rather the result of an intensive investigation and study of our entire immigration and naturalization system over the course of 21/2 years. conducted by a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. of which I had the honor of being chairman. I shall not undertake to recite in detail the work which went into the study and investigation. Suffice it to say that the subcommittee and its staff spent literally thousands of hours of time in the study and investigation. We studied not only the history of the immigration policy of the United States but the immigration policies of other countries as well. We delved Into the history and development of international migrations and the problems of population and natural resources. We studied the characteristics of the population of the United States. insofar as they were related to our immigration and naturalization system. We studied the organization and functions of the agencies of the Government which are concerned with the administration and operation of our immigration and naturalization law. Wc studied each of the thousands of provisions of our immigration and naturalization laws. with the end In view of appraising their adequacy. force. and effect. Let me say in passing that not only were these thousands of provisions of the law themselves studied carefully. but in conjunction therewith we studied the judicial and administrative interpretations of those provisions of the law and the rules and regulations implementing them. In the course of our work. the subcommittee obtained and considered appraisals and suggestions from several hundred officers and employees of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and of the Visa and Passport Divisions of the Department of State. In addition we received and considered appraisals and suggestions from numerous individuals and representatives of various interested nongovernmental organizations. The study and investigation disclosed many inequities. weaknesses. loopholes. and inconsistencies in our present hodgepodge immigration and naturalization system. The gravity of this situation is not merely academic. nor is it confined to the question of serious inconvenience to those who undertake to administer or understand our laws. Today. Mr. President. as never before. a sound immigration and naturalization system is essential to the preservation of our way of life. because that system is the conduit through which a stream of humanity flows into the fz..bric of our society. If that stream is healthy. the impact on our society is salutary. but if that stream is polluted. our institutions and our way of life become infected. Simultaneously with the filing of the comprehensive and detailed report on our immigration and nationality systemSenate Report No. 1515 of the Eightyfirst Congresson April 20. 1950. I introduced in the Senate. Senate bill. 3455 of the Eightyfirst Congress. which. like the instant bill. S. 2550. provided for the repeal of all the immigration and nationality laws and the enactment of one completely revised immigration and nationality code. Mr. President. many months of tedious work were devoted to the preparation of Senate bill 3455. and it went through several drafts before it was finally introduced. In that work. I was assisted not only by the staff of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee. but also by experts from the Immigration and Naturalization Service. the Visa Division of the Department of State. the Passport Division of the Department of State. and the Legislative Counsel of the Senate. After the introduction of Senate bill 3455. copies of the bill were circulated to interested governmental and nongovernmental agencies for study and comment. The Immigration and Naturalization Service assigned two experts who prepared a 525page detailed analysis and comment on the bill. and the Department of State set up within the Department a special committee which performed a similar function. Furthermore. a number of nongovernmental agencies submitted analyses and suggestions on the bill. In the course of numerous conferences over a period of several weeks. the various suggestions and analyses were considered. and Senate bill 3455 was further refined and each of the thousands of provisions was checked and rechecked.