Speech #890112124

There is a kind of hypocrisy. Mr. Speaker. in the excuse which is given for eliminating socalled discrimination from our immigration laws. because under the bill. H.R. 2580. there will be the rankest sort of discrimination against the people of those countries from which have stemmed the streams of migrants who founded and developed this country. Under the bill each country of Europe will remain under a fixed ceiling of 20.000 per year. but the nonquota countries of the Western Hemisphere will continue quotafree. The effect of this arrangement will result in a reduction of the quotas of the two countries from which the majority of our immigrants have historically come. namely. Great Britain. and Germany. At the present time the quota for Great Britain and Northern Ireland is 65.000 per year and the quota for Germany is 25.814. Under the bill these will both be cut to 20.000 per year. At the same time each of the 20 countries of the Orient that presently have minimum quotas of 100 will have a quota ceiling of 20.000. or a total oriental quota of 200.000. It is as inevitable as the rising of the sun that under the proposed bill the complexion of our immigration stream will shift from predominantly European to predominantly African. Latin. and Asiatic. The impact on our institutions. our Government. our entire society cannot presently be accurately forecast. but that there will be a profound impact no informed person can deny. The elimination from the present law of provisions which are designed to screen out the physicially unfit. likewise. will certainly result in an increase in numbersand a corresponding burden on our citizenry. There is a serious security threat. Mr. Speaker. which would result in the expected substantial increase in Asiatic migration to these shores. At the present time. the flow of Asiatic immigration to this country is checked by the simple device of a quota limitation to which all Asiatics are chargeable. With a substantial increase in immigration of Asiatics. coming not only from the Orient. but from every country in which they reside. the problem of procuring background information to screen out subversives becomes increasingly difficult. Moreover. most of the background information regarding Communist activities would be lodged in Oriental Communist countries. and hence unavailable to our security officials. Furthermore. the language barriers. with the many dialectsunfamiliar to our immigration officers would only compound the danger inherent in an attempt to screen out security threats. and I have no doubt that the International Communist Conspiracy will avail itself of the opportunity to increase its penetration of our country. Mr. Speaker. the votes have been corralled to pass this bill with an overwhelming majority.