Speech #880000887

Mr. President. on December 8. 1962. in New York City. the United Italian American Labor Council held its annual conference. There it adopted. among other resolutions. a resolution on national immigration policy. calling upon the Congress of the United States to enact permanent immigration legislation which will have as one of its main objectives the uniting of families. This is to be accomplished by allocating within an uptodate and realistic quota a large percentage of visas to close relatives of American citizens. Mr. President. in the 87th Congress. under bipartisan sponsorship in which I was privileged to join. a bill was introduced to make several permanent changes in the Immigration and Nationality Act. The most important provision proposed to augment the annual number of quota visas. giving special consideration to unsettled political refugees and close relatives of American citizens. It was a source of disappointment to me that little progress was made in even considering this legislation. Instead. the 87th Congress contented itself with enacting piecemeal and stopgap measures which. although they had merit in themselves and were much needed. failed to come to grips with our overall objectives in immigration policy for the years ahead. It is therefore my hope. Mr. President. that with the support of the administration. and the technical and informational assistance of all the private organizations that have labored so diligently in behalf of an enlightened immigration law. the 88th Congress will get down to the task of permanently revising the basic legislation. Many constructive suggestions were received as to how S. 3043 of the last Congress could be improved. and I have hopes that before long a revised bill incorporating several meritorious changes will be introduced. At this time. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution on immigration adopted by the United Italian American Labor Council at its annual conference be printed at this point in the RECORD.