Speech #820214109

The third objective of our amendment in the nature of a substitute is to pool unused quotas for distribution during the following year. These would be distributed without .reference to national origin. They could be used to reunite close relatives or to secure the entry of persons who would enhance our national security and economy. or who seek asylum here because of religious. racial. or political persecution. Mr. President. no other country in the Western Hemisphere. and perhaps no other country in the world. has immigration laws as stringent as those of the United States. Very few countries in this hemisphere have any quota laws at all. Brazil has a flexible quota system which permits the transfer of unfilled quotas to a subsequent year. just as we propose in our amendment in the nature of a substitute. Canada and Mexico have no quota laws. but may impose numerical limitations upon immigration by e:ecutive action. when deemed necessary. That system is far more flexible than ours. Peru limits the number of aliens in its country at any one time. That limitation is designed to curtail Asiatic immigration. Britain. France. Sweden. and China have no quota laws. no literacy tests. and no laws which exclude aliens because of race or nationality. Mr. President. we can and do propose to continue to maintain a quota system in our substitute and restrict aliens numerically. But we most surely should do so only upon the basis of a democratic and flexible quota system which does not discriminate against people because of the color of their face or the alleged color of their blood. We should not continue to seemingly waste quota numbers each yearwhen in reality we are killing themwhen they can be pooled and distributed during the following year to reunite families. to assist refugees from communism and other forms of totalitarianism and to bring to the United States skills and professions which will be of benefit to our country. There was a time when a citizen who fled from persecution or tyranny in his own country could escape to a new world there to make valuable contributions to the welfare and history of a new democratic republic. That is the way we grew and became great.