Speech #890038186

Presidents from both parties have called for revision. President Johnson has said of reform: No move could more effectively reaffirm our fundamental belief that a man is to be judged and judged exclusively on his worth as a human being. President Kennedy called for a law "that serves the national interest and reflects in every detail the principles of equality and human dignity to which our Nation subscribes." President Eisenhower used these words: A better law must be written that will strike an intelligent. unbigoted balance between the Immigration welfare of America and the prayerful hopes of the unhappy and oppressed. Congress has been content to prune the branches of our immigration law. Not much has been done to the roots. The reason. I think. is indifference. We may rouse ourselves. however. as more Americans become aware of the injustices of the national origins system and of its deleterious effect on foreign policy. It must be remembered that our immigration policies often make up the first and only personal contact that peoples of other countries have with the United States. It is one thing to say to the thousands of people who wish to become U.S. citizens: "We are sorry. but we have no more room." It is something altogether different to say: "We are sorry. but we have no more room for Italians." Now I should like to discuss how the immigration lav can be reformed within the framework of H.R. 93. The first and most important change is revision of the national origins quota system. My bill contains two other principal reforms: One is the removal of the quota restrictions on parents of U.S. citizens. They would be placed in the nonquota category. The second makes provision for the relief of world refugees and Communist escapees. I wish to make it clear at this point that my bill sets fixed and definite limits on the number of refugees who could be paroled or otherwise admitted into this country. In this respect. it differs from the administration bill. which would give the Attorney General almost unlimited authority to admit refugees and escapees. The bill makes other changes in the. immigration law. but they are fairly technical and I will not take up the time of the House to discuss them. They are. described. however. in a sectionbysection analysis which I will insert In the RECORD following these remarks. The logical first step toward reform of the national origins quota system is to replace the original formula on which it was based. That formula. enunciated in the JohnsonReed Act. was predicated on the 1920 census of the United States. It apportioned the quotas according to the racial ancestry of the white population of the country 45 years ago. My bill proposes that the 1960 census be used to allocate immigration quotas. that the nonwhite population be included. and that the annual worldwide quota be set at a number equal to onesixth of 1 percent of the 1960 U.S. population. The additional quota numbers that would become available because of the increase in this countrys population since 1920 would be assigned to the three quota areasgenerally speaking. Europe. Asia. and Africaaccording to the actual quota immigration into the United States from those areas between 1920 and 1960. Thus the quota distribution would more accurately reflect the patterns of immigration during those four decades. During 1964. some 55.000 quota numbers were not used by the nations to which they were assigned. The average over the past several years has been about 50.000.