Speech #820214137

Mr. President. let me pause right here to point out again to the Senate just what the McCarranWalter bill does with reference to the serious problem of aliens who are. under existing law. racially ineligible for admission into the United States. Under the McCarranWalter bill. no one is inadmissible to the United States or ineligible to naturalization solely on the basis of race. but all persons of races indigenous to an area designated as the AsiaPacific triangle are assigned to the quotas for that area. At the expense of being tedious on this very important Issue. Mr. President. may I say again that this socalled substitute amendment which would allegedly liberalize those provisions of the immigration laws which contain racial limitations. are vigorously opposed by the very groups which they would allegedly benefit. I invite the attention of the Senate to the provisions of this substitute amendment for the pooling of unused quotas. Mr. President. the pooling of unused quotas would be in direct conflict with the national origins quota principle which Is the foundation of our protective immigration system and which seeks to maintain the relative composition of our population by assigning quotas to the various countries of the world on the basis of the percentage of the population of the United States of each nationality. The effect of pooling unused quotas would be not only to substantially increase the number of aliens coming.to the United States for permanent residence. but would. in the course of a generation or so. change the ethnic and cultural composition of this Nation. Mr. President. let no one be misled by the statements made by the proponents of this substitute amendment with reference to the plan and purpose of the national origins quota system. The quotas under the nationalorigins system. Mr. President. are ceilings. not floors. on the number of visas which may be issued. In other words. the law clearly contemplates that aliens who are to come to this country for permanent residence under the quotas shall come In proportion to the contribution of each nationality to the total population of the United States as it existed in 1920. which was the year of the last census immediately preceding the date of the establishment of the nationaloriginsquota formula. Much has been said and is still being said about it being the duty of our country to open wider and wider the gates. in order to alleviate the surplus population of the overpopulated countries of the world. Mr. President. an immigration and nationality code is not the proper vehicle for the solution of the surplus population problems of the world. At the present time. there is pending before the Committee on Rules and Administration. Senate Resolution 270. which I submitted. to make an immediate study and investigation of the problems of surplus populations. of expellees. and of refugees. I have also introduced in the Senate. Senate bill 2567. to provide for the establishment of an agency of this Government to assist in the migration of surplus population of overpopulated areas to underdeveloped and underpopulated areas. I do not know. Mr. President. what the answer may be to this vital world problem. but I do know that the answer will not be found through the destruction of our own immigration system. It has also been announced that in the very near future a subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives will commence hearings on proposals to assist in solvIng the refugee problems which now exIst in the countries of Western Europe. The question of what to do about the surplus population problem of many of the countries of Western Europe. is therefore. receiving active consideration. and I believe that it is exceedingly unwise to attempt to solve the refugee problem in permanent immigration legislation. The proponents of this substitute amendment speak of the allocation of the unused quota numbers on the basis of family union preferences and national need preferences. Let me say.