Speech #840001679

Mr. President. on behalf of the senior Senator from Massachusetts . the junior Senator from New Jersey . and myself. I introduce for appropriate reference a bill which would amend the McCarranWalter immigration law. A similar bill was introduced in the 83d Congress in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. This bill contains three titles. The first title is designed to eliminate certain serious injustices which were specifically pointed out by the President of the United States in a letter to the then chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. the senior Senator from Utah . dated December 6. 1953. Among the injustices eliminated are the unrestricted authority given consuls to give or deny visas with virtually no standards for guidance. the discrimination against naturalized citizens. and the future mortgaging of immigration quotas by many countries. The second title deals with procedural inequities and injustices which have appeared in the administration of the law. The third title modernizes the quota system by establishing the 1950 instead of the 1920 census figures as the basis for determining national quotas. This would substantially alleviate a serious inequity that exists with respect to nationalities from southern and southeastern Europe. from which immigration is practically impossible today. Finally. it insures that all unused quotas will be used by providing for a redistribution of such quotas from any year to the succeeding year. This bill goes far toward curing the most serious inequities contained in our present immigration law and should do much to enhance the prestige of the United States in parts of the world where the menace of international communism is greatest. I ask unanimous consent that an analysis of the bill be printed in the RECORD.