Speech #860196801

Mr. Speaker. I want to take this opportunity to commend President Eisenhower for his recent proposal to eliminate some restrictive and discriminatory features contained in the present immigration and nationality law. In his special message to Congress on March 17 the President urged Congress to double the annual quota for immigration into this country and also authorize entrance of refugees above the quota limits. His proposals base the formula for limiting immigration on the 1950 census until the results of the 1960 census is available. Presently the outmoded census of 1920 is used. The President also urged that the total number of immigrants be put at onesixth of 1 percent of the total U.S. population. This would increase the quota system from the present 154.657 to an estimated 300.000 when the 1960 census is completed. Under the present law. immigration quotas for most foreign countries are based on a percentage of people of the same race and ethnic group making up the U.S. population. The President urged abandonment of this concept. and substituting as the base the number of immigrants actually accepted from each country between 1924 and 1959. The President also proposed that immigration quotas not fully used by some countries should be redistributed among countries in which the number of applicants for immigration exceeded the quota limit. In addition to liberalizing the regular immigration quotas. the President urged that Congress provide for the admission into the United States of refugees from oppression and persecution due to race. religion. political upheaval. or national calamity. Mr. Speaker. I would like to point out that I have introduced an immigration bill designed to carry out the Presidents recommendations. We in the United States know that our population stems from many races. groups. and religions. It is also Clear beyond dispute that our country has developed and prospered because we have made it a practice to offer a welcoming hand to substantial numbers of immigrants who were seeking freedom and equal opportunity. Our moral and material advancement has been due principally to the fact that we have had a liberal and progressive immigration policy. That liberal immigration policy. which allowed my ancestors to come to this country must be renewed if this country is not to lose an essential source of its great invigorating strength. I would like to point out that the Eighth Congressional District of Massachusetts. which I have the privilege of representing. has a large number of naturalized American citizens. who find it impossible to bring Into this country other members of their families from countries in southern Europe. This is unquestionably due to the discriminatory provisions of the McCarranWalter Act of 1952. The discriminatory nature of the McCarranWalter Immigration Act. its injustices against naturalized American citizens and its restrictions upon immigration is generally recognized. But the McCarranWalter Act is still on our statute books. I had hoped that during the lst session of the 86th Congress some action would be taken to revise this act. As a matter of fact. in both the 84th and 85th Congresses I introduced legislation to revise and recodify our immigration and naturalization laws and replace the McCarranWalter Act. These measures called for the abolition of the national origins quota system with its illogical. undemocratic. unrealistic. discriminatory racial inferiority provision. I felt that the way to improve this system was to abolish it and to adopt a fundamental immigration policy for our country which would select immigrants on the basis of their individual worth and not place primary importance on the geographical area of their birth. Mr. Speaker. the McCarranWalter Act permits immigration to this country by those who do not wish to do so while it denies that right to those who have both the need and desire to relocate In the United States. All one has to do is to look at the record and they will see that of the total McCarranWalter Act quota. almost 42.2 percent goes to Great Britain and Northern Ireland. and this allotment goes largely unused. Germany has a quota of 16.7 percent. EireIrelandl.5 percent. Italy has 3.6 percent of the total quota. less than Poland. with 4.2 percent. I would like to point out that between 1900 and 1910. 2.045.877 immigrants from Italy entered the United States. an average of over 200.000 per year. The act of 1921 decreased this amount to 42.000 per year and under the national origins formula of the McCarranWalter Act this figure was further reduced to 5.645. During the 1900 to 1910 period over 167.000 Greeks migrated to this country. an average of over 16.000 a year. under the McCarranWalter Act 308 Greeks are entitled to enter the United States each year. It is apparent to every observer of the Italian and Greek situations that significant increases in the number of people who migrate from these countriesin the case of Italy as many as 200.000 per year for a 10year periodare essential if they are to continue their economic recovery and to take their proper places with the countries of the free world. Therefore. it is imperative that the bill I have introduced be enacted into law at the earliest possible moment. in order that the unused quota allowances for countries such as Great Britain and Germany could be used by southern European countries. such as Italy and Greece. It is my hope that when the 86th Congress adjourns we will be able to point with pride to the fact that our present nationality quota system has been corrected. that unused quotas are being reallocated. mortgaged quotas canceled. citizenship rights protected and other inequities of the MeCarranWalter Act alleviated. To accomplish this we must have greater action than has been shown by the Congress. It seems very strange to me that with the President of the United States calling for revision of our immigration law and the leadership of both political parties pledging themselves to major revision of the McCarranWalter Act. yet all we get to date are minor revisions of the act. Mr. Speaker. I repeat again that the time has come for a fundamental change in our American immigration policy. We cannot afford to wait any longer. we cannot allow slipshod. racially conceived and arbitrarily executed legislation to thwart both our own need for skilled citizens and the qualified aliens desire to contribute. We must agree upon a measure. such as the bill which I have introduced. that again places our immigration policy upon a level compatible with our national heritage. The golden door. which was once wide open to all the world. including our own forbears. must not be tightly closed now by an unrealistic approach dictated in the 1920s. We can no longer avoid. as we did in that decade. the responsibilities that have been placed upon us as a leader of free nations. We must take care that our immigration policy. like every other aspect of our behavior toward foreign persons and states. reflects the genuine and durable principles of our democracy. It must be effective. and at the same time equitable. it must be orderly and at the same time flexible. and It must. above all. be motivated by that great source of our own strength. an abiding respect for the individual. It is with all these considerations in mind that I have introduced this bill. and that I respectfully urge you to support H.R. 11287.