Speech #820209658

Mr. President. consider for a moment section 222 (a). which requires that an application for an immigrant visa may be filed "only with the consular officer in whose district the applicant shall have established his residence." In general this provision is supposed to insure that a thorough investigation of the alien will take place in the area in which he actually has lived. Specifically. the provision is Intended to abolish preexamination. a method of extending clemency in worthy cases now within the discretion of the Attorney General. The practice under existing law is to examine an otherwise deportable immigrant. who wishes to remain. to determine the merit of his request. and if such preexamination is favorable to the alien. he may then go to Canada and there obtain a visa from the American consul for reentry as an ordinary immigrant. At this time I do not wish to debate the desirablity of these objectives. except to mention my grave doubts as to the wisdom of eliminating preexamination procedures. I do wish. however. to call the attention of the Senate to the effect of the section. as presently worded. upon an entirely different problem in the immigration field. Briefly stated. section 222 (a) automatically would bar a refugee from a totalitarian nation. who had fled or been forced to flee his homeland. from applying for admission into the United States. A short illustration will demonstrate the validity of this point. Mr. A. an active antiCommunist living behind the iron curtain. is anxious to come to America. To apply for a visa in his native Prague would mean almost certain death. so Mr. A escapes to Paris. Under the proposed provision. however. this action would leave him worse off than before. since he no longer could file his papers in the district of his residence.