Speech #870005053

SALTONSTALL]. the Senator from New Jersey I. the Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. SCOTTi. I Introduce. for appropriate reference. a bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act. Mr. President. I am very pleased to join in sponsoring and cosponsoring bills dealing with our Nations laws on immigration. During the last few months. it has not been uncommon to hear remarks directed to the U.S. position of world leadership. In order to maintain this position. all are in agreement that affirmative action must be taken both at home and abroad. I would suggest at this time that one area for early action is in the sphere of immigration laws. In many instances a warped reflection of the United States is cast overseas because of discriminatory immigration laws at home. In order to cross over this barrier of distrust and to extend freedom abroad. it is imperative that we first establish and record our faith in the peoples of all nations by legislative action in the Congress. If we are willing to continue laws discriminating against individuals because of race or national origin. what trust can we in turn expect from the emerging nations of Asia and Africa? The proposals which we offer today are designed to allow this country to share fully in its world responsibilities and reform many of the discriminating features of our immigration laws. The bill pertaining to refugees cosponsored by the Senators named. would authorize the issuance of 40.000 special nonquotaimmigrant visas for refugeeescapees from the trouble spots around the world. People subject to persecution or fear on account of race. religion. or political opinion who have fled from a Communistdominated nation would come within the definition of refugeeescapees. In addition. individuals fleeing from Middle Eastern countries or other areas where forces against the free world are at work would be defined as refugeeescapees. The bill also has measures which would empower the President to direct the Attorney General to parole into the United States refugeeescapees. should future world developments create another situation similar to the Hungarian uprising. The provisions would also provide relief. at the discretion of the President and subject to the approval of Congress. to people fleeing from the tyranny of a Castro or a similar tyrant. The provisions of the bill with respect to immigration are similar to proposals which President Eisenhower repeatedly made to bring our immigration laws up to date. These proposals were in substance strongly endorsed in both the Republican and Democratic platforms. They would provide revision of our national quota system to reflect the 1960 census rather than the census of 1920. on which the law is presently based. The bill would also provide for the pooling of unused quota numbers and their reallocation by Executive order of the President. The reallocation of unused quota numbers by the President would be subject to disapproval by a concurrent resolution of both Houses of Congress. Another important provision of our proposal is to allow the admission of fourthpreferencequota immigrants approved by the Attorney General prior to July 1. 1957. without reference to quota. In considering these various proposals for eliminating inequities and shortcomings in our immigration laws. we have given serious thought to the effect such changes might have on employment in the United States. At the present time. this Nation has a work force of more than 72 million people. Should these proposals be enacted into law. the resulting increase in our work force would be less than twotenths of 1 percent. When we take into consideration that in many cases immigrants with special skills actually provide work for other Americans. we see that the impact on our domestic economy of a broadened and more humanitarian immigration law might well be to increase rather than decrease job opportunities for American workers. As an example. Mr. President. in my hometown of Rochester. which is an important clothing manufacturing center. there is a serious shortage of skilled tailors. Every skilled tailor brought from Italy or other countries to fill these positions is able to create work for eight additional people in related skills. It should also be noted that immigrants to this country have in the past been a source of some of our best technical knowhow. scientific research and philosophical thought. Immigrants have. throughout the history of America. provided the stimulus for unparalleled development in all areas of our national growth. There is no reason to believe that this will be untrue today. As we broaden our horizons of world leadership. it is fitting and appropriate that we should attempt to eliminate the anachronistic blemishes of our domestic complexion. which serve only to bar complete faith and trust in the United States. Mr. President. I introduce for appropriate reference the bill to provide for the issuance of special nonquota immigrant visas to refugees and for other purposes. and I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill. and a short analysis be printed at this point in the RECORD.