Speech #860048094

This is a fact which has been recognized by Congress. In 1957. and again in 1958. Congress saw fit to enact legislation declaring that all persons who were waiting on registered waiting lists for first preference visasaliens having needed skills. education. experience. or abilityshould forthwith be issued nonquota visas. This bill gives recognition to this fact. and by making a modest increase in the quota. coupled with a pooling of unused quota numbers. sets a permanent pattern for handling this problem which has heretofore been met with piecemeal legislation. The third important feature of this bill relates to the system by which this country shall face up to the problem of refugees throughout the world. especially in these days when victims of Communist oppression continue to flee from behind the Iron Curtain to freedom in Western Europe. This is a subject upon which I can talk with some measure of personal knowledge of the facts. I was in Europe during and directly after the Hungarian revoltthat glorious. shortlived spark of freedom that so thoroughly exposed the Communist oppressors for what they are. I stood at the bridge at Andau. I walked the Hungarian border and saw courageous freedom fighters and women and children fleeing into Austria. The administration at that time met the problem by invoking the parole provisions of the existing immigration law. Since then. doubt has been raised as to the legality of this procedure. In my view it is necessary for the Congress not only to clarify this area but to establish on a permanent basis legislation which will enable our Government intelligently and compassionately to meet its fair share of the responsibility for refugee relief in such critical periods. This bill specifies that the President may direct the Secretary of State and the Attorney General to parole into this country a number of "refugeeescapees" and "nonsettled hardcore refugees." roughly amounting to a total of 68.000 per year. The Secretary of State and the Attorney General are given discretion to provide such measure of relief as is consistent with our world responsibility. working closely and chiefly through such organizations as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. This provision does in fact place a large measure of discretion in the executive branch in the administration of this program. a discretion which I believe is necessary. By use of the parole system. however. flexibility is also granted in the speedy return of any person so admitted in the event an error is made. The legislation also provides a method whereby persons thus paroled into the United States can adjust their status to that of permanent residence. subject to congressional review in each case. A fourth important provision of this legislation will vest in the Attorney General discretionary power. in proper cases and under certain conditions. to allow the entry into the United States. or to prevent the deportation of certain clearly specified classes of aliens. not to exceed 5.000 per year. Those classes are close relatives of United States citizens or lawfully resident aliens. veterans or members of the Armed Forces. and religious functionaries. I do not think I should belabor the point respecting the inadequacy and unacceptability of the private bill method as an avenue for relief in hardship immigration cases. The Congress has seen the number of such private immigration bills rise from 12 enacted during the 78th Congress to an astonishing total of 927 enacted in the 85th Congressa frightening increase of over 10.000 percent. In the 84th Congress. 4.474 private relief immigration bills were introduced. and 1.227 were enacted. This is a fantastic burden upon the Judiciary Committee of which I am a member. the Congress as a whole. and the President. who must review all private bills that are enacted. In the present Congress. during the first 3 months of its existence. there were 1.435 such bills introduced. Certainly the time of this Congress should be devoted to matters of more general. and national importance. although I would be the last to deprecate the vital importance of a private immigration bill to the individual concerned. It seems to me that this is a matter which must be delegated to the Attorney General so that. in the daytoday administration of the immigration law. he can exercise his sound discretion and determine which aliens shall. within the limits specified by Congress. be excepted from the normal application of the strict letter of the law. There Is nothing fantastic about this proposal. It merely carries forward what Congress has already done. not only in the basic immigration law but also in its enactments during the 85th Congress when it vested in the Attorney General greater authority to grant administrative relief to aliens seeking admission to this country as well as those already here. I do not expect that the system I have suggested will eliminate all private bills in the immigration field. nor do I suggest that they should be eliminated. The people always have the right to petition Congress for redress. I do believe. however. that the administrators of the law should first be given an opportunity to investigate and determine the merits of the cases. and it may well be that in the case of an adverse administrative action. the Congress may be loathe to consider or enact a private bill. One very serious matter which has confronted the Congress repeatedly but I believe would be adequately met with this legislation. is the problem arising from the fact that the worst of our deportable aliensracketeers. narcotics peddlers. or worseare able to protract their unwelcome stay in our midst indefinitely and beyond reason solely through misuse of our judicial processes. Let me make it clear that this is not the fault of our courts. Rather it is the fault of the statutory scheme now in existence which permits a deportable alien to shop around from court to court. to try and retry the same issue. One notorious alien of this type has been able to take his case through the courts and to the Supreme Court three times. I have made certain changes in this portion of this legislation from the form in which it was originally submitted by the administration. These changes are designed to make certain that the rights of aliens subject to deportation are safeguarded. I believe that the legislation as finally drafted will safeguard both the interests of the public as a whole in having a workable and effective system and the rights of the individual for a full and impartial hearing and review. Mr.