Speech #890119599

CXI1361 As the ranking minority member of our subcommittee his leadership was outstanding. I am equally indebted to our distinguished colleague from Kentucky . the ranking majority member of our subcommittee. an 18year veteran on the subcommittee. for his constructive contributions to our subcommittee bill. The fundamental issue in the public hearings was the national origins quota system. That is. whether that system should be repealed and be replaced by a new system of immigrant admissions. That issue was resolved by the subcommittee in our first executive session. . There was unanimity on the need to repeal the national origins quota system and to replace it with a new system. The basic reasons for our decision are threefold: First. The national origins quota system does not regulate immigration into the United Statesas many people have been misled into believing. and as proponents of the system believed it would. Fifteen years ago. nonquota immigration had equaled quota immigration. That was 25 years after the quota system was enacted into law. During the past 15 years nonquota immigration increased to the point where it has now doubled quota immigration. This trend will continue to accelerate unless Congress takes remedial action now. Second. Our Secretary of State and two Attorneys General have testified that the quota system has made problems in the conduct of our relations with certain foreign countries because of overtones of discrimination and implied favoritism for the nationals of some countries as against the nationals of other countries. In the opinion of these Cabinet officers this problem Is aggravated by the fact some high quota countries do not use their allotted numbers while other countries with low quotas have long waiting lists of preference applicants. the majority of whom are relatives of U.S. citizens. Third. While the United States has by far the most generous immigration system so far as numbers admitted each year. the system has not been working for the best interests of the United Statesdomestically or in terms of our international commitments. Despite the fact we have been admitting close to 300.000 immigrants per year for the past 10 years. we are still confronted with the same kind of human problems which have caused Congress to enact 12 separate pieces of public legislation during the past 12 years. I refer particularly to the long backlogs of relatives of U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens in the oversubscribed countries. The remaining 17 executive sessions of our subcommittee bill were taken up with reaching agreement on the basic principles which should govern a new system of immigrant admissions. In this process we made a detailed examination of every possible method. its Implications. and its estimated outcomes. The new method proposed is. in my considered Judgment. a long forward step In the direction of a selective immigration system with qualitative and quantitative controls. Here are the basic elements of the proposed new system of immigrant admissions: First. The national origins quota system is repealed. effective July 1. 1968. Second. The AsiaPacific triangle concept is repealed immediately. This concept has met with strong reactions from our allies and friends in Asia who have come to regard It as the same kind of personal affront as the old Chinese Exclusion Act. Moreover the proposed selective system of immigrant admissions included in the bill guarantees that no country can receive a disproportionate number of the total visas authorized. Third. A numerical limit of 170.000 immigrant admissions per year is established. exclusive of the spouses. children. and parents of U.S. citizens. for all countries outside the Western Hemisphere. Fourth. A numerical ceiling of 20.000 per year is fixed for any 1 country. exclusive of the spouses. children. and parents of U.S. citizens.