Speech #840113403

Mr. President. I introduce. for appropriate reference. a bill to amend chapters 4. 5. 6. and 8 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This bill is a substitute for Senate bill 2076. with the same title. which I introduced on May 25. 1955. I want to take this opportunity to explain the reason for introducing the new bill. Senate bill 2076 was the same as Senate bill 2347. introduced by me on July 10. 1953. in the 83d Congress. Since then almost 3 years experience under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 has revealed difficulties that require amendments which. to some extent. are different from ahd additional to those in the original bill. The new bill does three things. First. it makes technical changes to remove from the immigration law provisions which are at cross purposes with other laws enacted to promote the development of the United States merchant marine and United States air carriers. The Merchant Marine Act of 1936 declares it "to be the policy of the United States to foster the development and encourage the maintenance" of our merchant marine. Similarly. the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 declares it the policy of our Government to encourage and develop "an air transportation system adapted to the present and future needs of the foreign and domestic commerce of the United States. of the postal service. and of the national defense." As a member of the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee I have become familiar with the importance of those policies and the serious problems faced by our carriers in their effort to fulfill those policies in international transport competition: We should not add to those problems by unfair provisions in any of our laws. The Immigration and Nationality Act. however. contains provisions which burden the development of our international transportation companies. That law. although enacted primarily to protect the United States from the entry of dangerous aliens. imposes many fines. penalties and expenses on our steamship lines and airlines. Thus. if an alien misleads or deceives our Government officials and our carriers as to his eligibility to enter the United States. the Immigration Act fines the carriers. makes them responsibile for many expenses and the return trip fare of the alien. Even if an alien has been given permission to come to the United States by our State Department. in the form of a visa and has been approved by our Immigration Service by being admitted to the United States. nevertheless the carrier which brought him may be fined- $1.000 for doing so. Furthermore. the Immigration and Nationality Act requires carriers employees to decide whether aliens are admissible to the United States even though those employees have no governmental power to investigate the alien and must accept the aliens statements as to his eligibility. In addition. the carriers are required to provide office space and facilities for the Immigration Service even though the latter are performing public functions. Some of these requireinents are unfair impositions which retard the development of our international carriers. On the other hand. as a member of the Judiciary Committee. I am concerned with the proper enforcement of our immigration policies. I do not favor legislation which would impair the ability of the Department of State and the Immigration Service to enforce those policies so none of the provisions in any bill change the law as to kinds of aliens who may be admitted. Nor do these amendments change the quota of aliens who may be admitted. To maintain our Immigration policies. however. I do not think it is necessary to punish our airlines and steamship lines unfairly. My CII- 104 amendments. therefore. seek to remove the unfair impositions on our carriers without changing the substantive immigration law. Second. the bill makes some technical changes in the law which will ease the burden on the enforcement agencies in issuing various travel and identity documents. The current Immigration Act. in several of its provisions. specifies in almost minute detail the contents of some applications for documents and of some documents themselves in such a way as to make it difficult to adjust the paperwork of the enforcement agencies to changing conditions. These amendments will not change the requirement for thorough investigation of aliens but relate to the forms and documents used by the agencies or by the aliens. Third. the amendments deal with the visa procedures applicable to foreigners who come to the United States for temporary visits. Under the present law these visitors must meet the same tests and requirements as foreigners coming to this country for permanent immigration. It is generally recognized that the two groups should receive different treatment. Thus. the President. in his state of the Union message. recommended that different requirements be imposed on temporary visitors. with respect to fingerprinting.