Speech #860298171

It is inevitable that the national origins principle will be abandoned. Inevitability. however. should not be used as an excuse for not facing up to the problem. I have long sponsored legislation providing for a complete revision of the discriminatory and inequitable Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 against which I voted. Among its other accomplishments. my bill would replace the national origins quota system with a unified quota which would establish standards of individual qualifications. rather than race. for determining the admissibility of immigrants. This system of selection would be a realistic substitute for the national origins quota system. which is so heavily weighted in favor of those who have no need or desire to come to the United States. To illustrate: Of the total quota authorized under the Immigration and Nationality Act. almost 42.2 percent goes to Great Britain and Northern Ireland and this allotment is largely unused. Italy has 3.6 percent of the total quota. or 5.666 persons. This contrasts with the last two decades of the 19th Century when about 960.000 immigrantsincluding my own parentsentered the United States from Italy. In the first decade of this century. 2.045.877 persons came here from Italy. an annual average of over 200.000. During the same 10year 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. In addition to providing a substitute for the national origins formula. the legislation advocated by me would effect other needed reforms. including abolishing certain loss of nationality provisions which apply only to naturalized citizens. establish better procedures to review deportation and exclusion orders. and increase efficiency by creating a single agency to administer the immigration laws instead of splitting these functions between the Justice Department and the State Department. The most important change offered by this bill is. of course. the unified quota system to substitute for the national origins provisions of the present law. I have explained the workings of this system a number of times on this floor. as have others. It is sufficient at this time to say that an apparently reasonable and workable substitute has been offered in place of the present formula which so many Americans find objectionable. It should be given a chance to stand or fall under our democratic process. Ours is. after all. a Nation of immigrants. Were it not for immigration there would be no United States. Washington would still be largely a swamp. New York City. a primeval forest. and Chicago. a spot on the tall grass prairie whose silence was broken only by the sound of the wind and the occasional hoofbeat of buffalo. Immigration is not a necessary evil which must be kept to a minimum. It is a positive factor which has contributed to our growth as a nation. Andrew Carnegie. Joseph Pulitzer and Albert Einstein. were immigrants who contributed greatly to our national treasury of human achievement. The contributions of the 40 million other immigrants of the last hundred years are no less important. No responsible person today advocates a complete abandonment of our regulations over immigration. Reasonable qualitative and quantitative controls must be maintained. All that is asked is that these regulations be shorn of their fewbut basicinequitable and racially discriminatory principles. It is most unfortunate that during the past 7 years we have lacked strong and sustained executive leadership in effecting revision of our immigration policy but I look forward to early action in the next administration when a "Democratic President in cooperation with Democratic Congresses will again implant a humanitarian and liberal spirit in our Nations immigration and citizenship policies."