Mr. Speaker. cn the opening of the Congress I introduced a bill to repeal the Immigration and Nationality ActPublic Law 414. Eightysecond Congressand to reenact all laws or parts of laws amended or repealed by said act. Prior to the enactment of Public Law 414. commonly known as the McCarran Act. the immigration law was based on statutes originally enacted in 1920 and 1924. The organic law has. of course. been amended many times. but the law itself has never been entirely overhauled. American immigration policy is an important issue. and there is a vital need to review and revise our immigration laws. During the recent election campaign both parties and their leaders came out against the McCarran Act. This is good. since American immigration policy is not. and should not be. a partisan political issue. President Truman originally vetoed this bill and then joined Gov. Adlai Stevenson in condemning it. Presidentelect Eisenhower stated during the campaign "that the McCarran immigration law must be rewritten. A better law must be written that will strike an intelligent balance between the immigration welfare of America and the prayerful hopes of the unhappy and the oppressed." The Presidents special commission. appointed last June to study tae McCarran bill. has just reported. and it. too. denounces its inequities and recommends that the law must be completely rewritten from beginning to end. I myself voted against the McCarran bill. and I voted to sustain President Trumans veto of that bill. During my campaign for reelection I stated that I favored its repeal and that I would introduce a bill for that purpose when the Congress meets again in January of 1953.
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