Speech #890015526

This includes both independent countries and dependent territories. Ninth. Secondclass citizenship as between nativeborn and naturalized Americans is abolished. This places in legislation that principle which the Supreme Court has recently affirmed. Tenth. Provision is made for annual parole of refugees and escapees Into the United States up to a number of 15.000or up to any number if the President decides an emergency exists. Such refugees may be given immigration status after 2 years in numbers up to 25.000 per year. Eleventh. Provisions for naturalizing persons who have served honorably in our Armed Forces are liberalized. Our immigration laws are basically 45 years out of dateand are still based on the census of 1920. We make a fetish out of the discriminatory quota system. yet the facts show we ignore it more often than we use it. In the last 10 years. 1 million immigrants came here under quotas which would have allowed 1.500.000 to enterwhich means onethird of those quotas were wasted on countries which did not use them. In the same period 1.800.000 other immigrants came in outside the quota system or under special and temporary legislation and exceptions. such as were needed. for example. to give asylum to the gallant freedom fighters of Hungary. That means that two out of every three immigrants during the decade came in outside the quotas. I submit that when twothirds of our immigrants came in outside the quota * system. it is high time to change the law. Our present immigration system discriminates flagrantly in favor of northern and western Europeans and against southern Europeans. Is there any justice in the fact that Italy. with 51 million people. has a quota of only 5.666 a year while Great Britain. with 53 million has a quota of 65.000? Is there any logical reason why Greece with 8.500.000 people is allowed only 308 immigrants per year while Sweden. with less than 7.500.000. has 3.30010 times as many? Nor is that the end of the unfair differences of treatment. An American who has a Swiss brother can get him admitted at once. But his neighbor. whose sister is Italian. may have to wait years to get her a quota numberunder our regular immigration laws. Both are Americans and both have the American sense of fairness. and both. therefore. would be equally offended by such unequal and inequitable treatment. Mr. Speaker. an American is a hybrid of many breeds and has the vigor of that high heritage. What began with an Italian. sailing in a Spanish ship. has seen. in our own time. an immigrants grandson reach the White Houseand so the grand story goes on. We are truly a Nation of immigrants. If we would honor our heritage we must put an endhere and nowto discriminatory national origins quotas. secondclass citizenship. and divided families. We must have a Just and equitable immigration policy as a matter of law.