Mr. Speaker. as we near the closing hour of this 88th Congress. I desire to make a short report on the status and progress of pending Immigration legislation. Our Subcommittee on Immigration and Nationality began public hearings on pending bills on June 11. 1964. As chairman. I took that action only after it became certain that adequate funds would not be provided to activate the Joint Committee on Immigration and Nationality Policy during this session. Over the course of 1 year. covering both sessions of this Congress. I sought by every proper means to secure funds to activate the joint committee. It was my conviction that Congress could not act intelligently on pending immigration legislation without a full scale uninhibited and objective review of all the factors. domestic and international. upon which a sound immigration policy must be based. To expect Congress to act without such a review. incidentally a long overdue review. was to call upon Congress to act in the dark. without the facts upon which sound policy rests. Our subcommittee has provided an opportunity for all interested in our immigration program to appear as witnesses or to present statements for inclusion in the record of our hearings. Orderly and purposeful procedure was employed in the course of our hearings. We opened phase I of our hearings with testimony from interested Members of Congress. Phase II took up testimony from the executive branch of Government including the Secretary of State. the Attorney General. the Secretary of Labor. the operating level of the Department of Justice which includes the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the operating level of the Department of Statethe Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs. Phase III took up testimony from nongovernmental organizations and interested individuals. This task required hearings. both public and executive. over a course of more than 3 months.
Keywords matched
Naturalization Immigration immigration