Speech #880143907

Mr. President. in the past 2 days the end of a long and frustrating road toward immigration reform began to come into view. I am referring. of course. to the hearings which were held on Monday and Tuesday of this week before the Immigration Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee on several bills to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. Because official business abroad. in connection with the NATO Parliamentarians Conference. prevented my appearing. along with the other sponsors of immigration reform bills. at these hearings. I should like to add a few words here to the formal statement which I am submitting to the subcommittee for its record. My first concern is that after so many years of manifest injustice and heartbreak. which every Member of Congress has seen in his constituents mail on this subject. we shall at last enact a substantial modification of the wholly arbitrary and antiquated national origins quota system. The record of the Congress In the past 10 years. in trying to relieve the enormous hardships which have been imposed by that rigid quota system. has been a sorry one indeed. Year after year we have been forced to settle for piecemeal measures designed to patch up the worst individual situations. In each one of these cases we have been told that this is the best we could get and that. if we did not accept these patchwork solutions and insisted instead on real immigration reform. even these palliative measures would be withdrawn. That these threats were effective is another vivid testimonial to the inadequacy of Senate procedures which often permit a minority of Members of the Senate. who oppose any real reform of the immigration system. to stymie the majority. which I believe is clearly in favor of such reform. and what is even worse. to prevent a vote to determine whether in fact a majority is in favor of reform. Typical of the kind of approach the Congress has been forced to take in recent years in the record of piecemeal amendments to the Immigration Act passed in the three Congresses: Public Law 85815. adoption of alien orphans and their admission. Public Law 85700. authorizing Attorney General to adjust status of bona fide nonimmigrant aliens to permanent residence status. Public Law 85697. naturalization of adopted children and spouses of missionaries abroad. Public Law 85531. cancellation of departure bonds for nonimmigrants whose status is changed. Public Law 85559. status adjustment of Hungarian refugees. Public Law 85892. additional visas authorized for certain distressed Portuguese and Netherlands citizens In Azores islands. Public Law 86129. extension of residence exemption for loss of nationality purposes. Public Law 86363. entry of certain relatives of U.S. citizens and lawfully resident aliensupdating fourth preference. Public Law 86648. resettlement of refugees and escapees and adjusting status of nonimmigrant aliens and extension of nonquota immigrant visas to orphans. Public Law 87301. eligible orphans for adoption. excludable aliens. jurisdiction to nationalize. loss of nationality. judicial review of orders of deportation. privileges for veterans of Korean hostilities. Public Law 87293. admission of aliens for training Peace Corps members. Public Law 87256. Cultural Exchange Act of 1961. section 109. Public Law 87885. entry of alien skilled specialists and certain relativesupdating first and fourth preferences. Against this sorry record. which also includes the need for hundreds of private immigration bills. the hope held out by the hearings this week is a major revision of the act. particularly the national origins quota system based upon the 1920 census. I am a sponsor and cosponsor of three major proposals in this area in the 88th Congress. On July 2. 1963.