Speech #850243253

Mr. President. since the special immigration lawPublic Law 85316became effective on September 11 last year. 32.253 visas under that program have already been issued. This act amended the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. and was designed as a humanitarian measure to reunite families. provide for the admission to the United States of certain refugees. and to permit adoptions by American citizens of orphans overseas. As such. first emphasis was given to reuniting families. evidenced by the fact that 71 percent of visas Issued to date have been for this purpose. In addition. more than 1.000 visas have been issued to orphans. It was apparent from the beginning of the administration of the act that issuance of visas to refugees would require more time because of the security requirements involved and to secure an equitable distribution on a worldwide basis of the limited numbers of visas CIV----821 available for refugees. Furthermore. the personnel required for the security investigations could not be assigned to the field until funds for this purpose were made available by Congress in April 1958. Nonetheless. more than 2.500 refugees have secured preliminary approval as of June 20. 1958. for entry. 300 more than the originally estimated workload for the period up to the end of June. The additional personnel now in the field. coupled with the acceleration of the review of cases in Washington. will place the program on a current basis this month. Program goals for the administration of the act have been exceeded to date.