Speech #860267295

This administration has repeatedly introduced legislation to fulfill the pledges spelled out clearly in the Republican Party platform in 1956. On March 17 of this year. President Eisenhower recommended revisions and modifications which would substantially change the present immigration law. First. the President urged that the number of quota immigrants be doubled by basing the quota on the population census of 1960 instead of 1.920. The use of the outdated 1920 figures is highly illogical and we should at the least utilize the most recent census. Second. there would also be special provisions for the admission on parole of refugees from persecution and oppression. This would aid greatly in current terms and in the event of an emergency situation. Third. the President would drop the racial and ethnic classifications in the present law and increase the quota numbers assigned to countries in proportion to their actual immigration to the United States between 1924 and 1959. Fourth. the unfilled national quota numbers would be pooled within the geographic areas and made available to prospective immigrants from oversubscribed countries in the -areas without regard to nationality. This would soften to some degree the discriminatory aspects of the system under which one Englishman equals 12 Italians. 20 Swedes. or 200 Greeks. I strongly support these recommendations which would go far toward modernizing our antiquated immigration laws and meeting todays immigration needs. In addition. provision should be made for the United States to take its fair share of the 47.000 hardcore cases among the refugees. the socially and physically handicapped. and the institutionalized who still remain in Europe. We should make the law permanent for the admission of orphans adopted by American families and place it under the direction and supervision of the Secretary of Health. Education. and Welfare. We should establish a statute of limitations under our immigration law to prevent the sudden deportation of men and women who have spent their lives in this country and raised families here notwithstanding that prosecution for their alleged violations would be outlawed if they were crimes. Other free world nations are making major efforts to admit considerable portions of the worlds refugees and we should not fail to do the same. Because we have not substantially overhauled our discriminatory and outdated immigration laws. we have failed in one aspect of the inescapable responsibility of U.S. peace leadership. There are an estimated 21/2 million refugees in the world who need international help. Among the most pressing problems are the Iron Curtain escapees and the hard core still in European camps. The escapees are living witnesses to the fact that the Communist system has fallen far short of its promises. and that men love liberty and are willing to sacrifice everything they own in order to be free. We must give them a helping hand. The steady flow of refugees from the Iron Curtain countries advertises the tremendous attraction that the free world has for the daring and vigorous elements in the Communist lands. and it hurts Communist economy and morale. These elements present a worthwhile cause in the American spirit. but Congress has .yet to act on a scale commensurate with the clearly established need. We must offer a ray of hope to sustain the 100 millionpeople inthe Soviet satellite countries who want to be free but whose situation demonstrates the prisonlike character of Soviet practice which makes emigration virtually impossible. The United States has admitted for resettlement since 1945 more than 750.000 displaced persons. refugees. and escapees. Our Government has contributed more than a billion dollars for refugee aid in that period. Our annual contribution to various United Nations and other programs to aid refugees in Europe. the Near East. and Asia totals about $40 million. Yet these are not enough. The World Refugee Year and the demands of our own foreign policy position make it necessary for us to continue our aid along the lines of the policy we established in the Displaced Persons Act of 1.948 and the Refugee Relief Act later. Under these laws over 600.000 refugees and escapees were admitted. These laws saw the full participation of the "fair share" formula which in a few short yeats cleared Western Europes displaced persons camps. S. 1919. which I introduced last year with Senators CASE. SALTONSTALL. and KEATING. was an effort to modernize the Immigration and Nationality Act and provide for the admission annually of about 60.000 refugeeescapees fleeing racial. religious and political persecution in Communist and other totalitarian countries. Also. the bill eliminated various procedural injustices in administration of the present immigration law and it attempted to reshape the existing national quota system. Under the present immigration law. the largest quotas are assigned to countries in which pressures to emigrate to America are light. It is high time we adopted a more mature immigration policy. one that would be more in keeping with the American tradition of judging a man by what he does rather than by factors of race. color. and country of birth. Our failure to admit the thousands of escapees from the Iron Curtain and to modernize our immigration laws operates against the best interest of our foreign policy as well as our domestic. economic and social wellbeing. The wealth of a nation lies as much in its people as in its natural resources. and the United States. with its rich tradition of refuge for the homeless and oppressed should be in the forefront of the nations of the world in taking its fair share and thereby helping to resettle the refugees from Communist oppression. No one is recommending opening the flood gates wide. but we must strive for a new immigration policy that will show progressive recognition of the need. Wise modernization of our immigration laws with particular reference to the constructive aspects of the U.S. leadership for peace and freedom in the world -and for the demands of our own modern domestic society is absolutely essential. In this presidential election year there is a real chance to get platform and candidate pledges for basically revising the immigration laws. It is for this xeason that I have stated the case again today.