Speech #880103476

Anthony Celebrezze. has been appointed to head an executive department of the Federal Government whose responsibilities are of crucial importance to our entire population is characteristic of the magnitude of the contribution to our national life made by Italian American political and administrative leaders. An Italian discovered America. and Italian Americans help lead it and preserve its freedom. By the restrictions of our immigration laws with their unfair quota system we have deprived this country of fresh additions to the strength of its population from countries like Italy. We need more Italian Americans. and we need more Americans from Italy. As a freshman Member of this Congress I introduced early this year a bill to liberalize the Immigration and Nationality Act so as to remove the ignoble national origins quota based on the composition of the country in 1920. My bill would remove those purely arbitrary racial and nationality barriers to immigration. My bill substitutes a new formula based on equality and fairplay for people of all races and nations. I am heartened by the recognition given to this problem by the administration. The President urged reform of our immigration statutes in a message to Congress on July 23 of this year. In his message he noted thatBecause of the composition of our population in 1920 (on which the quota system is based) . the system is heavily weighted in favor of immigration from northern Europe and severely limits immigration from southern and eastern Europe and other parts of the world. An American citizen with a Greek father or mother must wait at least 18 months to bring his parents here to join him. A citizen whose married son or daughter. or brother or sister is Italian cannot obtain a quota number for an even longer time. Meanwhile. many thousands of quota numbers are wasted because they are not wanted or needed by nationals of the countries to which they are assigned. In his short book on the subject. "A Nation of Immigrants." President Kennedy wrote: Our policy should be generous. it should be fair. it should be flexible. With such a policy we could turn to the world with clean hands and a clear conscience. Such a policy would be but a reaffirmation of old principles.