Speech #840150322

The bill which I have introduced. H. R. 8392. presents a more equitable and just means of meeting the need for a democratic immigration and naturalization policy. It provides a policy which is responsive to the humanitarian desires of the Nation and yet protective of its security. The bill bases the annual quota at onesixth of 1 percent of the United States population according to the latest census. Thus. approximately 250.000 immigrants per year will be admitted when the bill is enacted. Since my bill provides for a percentage based on changing census figures. the number of immigrants admitted will change as our population changes. We now admit approximately 150.000 immigrants a year. just as we did in 1924. Our population has increased by half since then. Our quota has remained exactly the same. Surely we must liberalize this provision. H. R. 8392 provides furthermore. that these immigrants be admitted not on the basis of the nation from which they come. but on the basis of our national needs and policies. In addition to allotting a minimum of 20 percent of the quota annually to newcomers. the bill indicates percentages to be distributed in order to bring skilled persons into the United States. to reunite families. to provide a haven for the persecuted victims of tyranny. and to promote the national policies of our country. In this last category. the act will probably be devoted. at the present time. to aiding those nations with population pressures which threaten their stability. By granting our visas in this manner. we affirm our basic democratic belief that the true worth of a man is not determined by the nation of his birth. but by his individual qualifications. The national origins quota system is an outmoded product of a bygone erait has no place in our Nation today. Another democratizing feature of my bil is that it eliminates those distinctions which make the naturalized American a secondclass citizen. For the first time in the history of naturalization legislation. we have had. written into our laws. provisions differentiating between citizens who have been naturalized in good faith and nativeborn citizens. Before the Immigration and Nationality Act. the grant of citizenship to an alien placed him on an equal level with other citizens. But a change was introduced by the present immigration lawa change which. if unchecked. may start a dangerous trend making the naturalized citizen always suspect. always a little bit less than those who. by an accident of birth. happened to be born here. Under the present law. a naturalized American can be deprived of his citizenship on grounds which are not even considered criminal when the same act is committed by a nativeborn citizen. I have eliminated such provisions. Naturalized citizens are given the same rights and duties as nativeborn citizens. They suffer the same penalties for wrongdoing. Under the present admihistrative system of the act. the Immigration and Naturalization Service in the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs of the State Department. are the two governmental bodies which oversee our immigration laws. This division of responsibility begets confusion and delay. With no clear line of authority. our immigration policy remains uncoordinated and overcomplicated. H. R. 8392 provides for the creation of an Immigration and Naturalization Commission which would be a single. independent authority. responsible solely for this vital function. In addition. this bill provides a workable set of standards to insure against the entry of genuine subversives and antidemocratic peoples into our Nation. In the current act there are so many contradictory and complicated requirements that we often bar the scientist. the professor. the scholar and others who can make a real contribution to our democracy.