Speech #890119655

May I say with respect to the objectives of the new system which we are suggesting here today. and which the committee is considering. the major principal changes proposed by this bill are to eliminate the selection of immigrants on the basis of ancestry or place of birth. and to substitute the test of selection based upon concepts of family reunion. and the immigrants potential personal contribution to the United States--standards which we believe are fair to the aliens and by the same token more beneficial to America. Additionally the bill provides a continuing and flexible authority for the admission of refugees. The Committee on the Judiciary in the amended bill. H.R. 2580. has achieved this reform with restrictive safeguards to protect the general well being of our Nation. our economic health and our national security. There were a lot of suggestions that were rejected by the subcommittee and the full committee. May I take just a moment to set the record straight in that respect. The original administration bill provided for a wide grant of discretionary control over our immigration system. Under that proposal the executive could have used up to onehalf of the quota numbers at his discretion. In the name of national security or diplomatic policy. the admission of aliens could have been subject to all sorts of political pressures internally and externally so far as this Nations immigration policy is concerned. But this proposal was rejected. Your committee preserved for the Congress. and I say this without a moments hesitationyour committee preserved for the Congress its traditional and its historic responsibility and its constitutional prerogative. That is the function of determining this Nations immigration policy. Also it might be well to point out that the original administration measure would have created a joint executive and legislative advisory immigration board. This unworkable monstrosity is a clear violation of the theory in my opinion of the separation of powers upon which our Government is based and this was also rejected by the Immigration and Nationality subcommittee as an unnecessary duplication and certainly as an obvious effort to weaken the congressional control of our immigration policy. Further. the administration proposal would also have granted to the executive virtually unrestricted control and authority for the admission of refugees. This particular suggested change by the administration was rejected by the subcommittee. I say to the Committee. for the first time in this amended bill. H.R. 2580. we have set a specific numerical limit upon the admission of refugees and the Congress of the United Statesnot some international bodywill establish the qualifying definition for the term "refugee." Other provisions rejected by the subcommittee would have removed the restriction and suspension of deportation and adjustment of status for alien crewmen and ship jumpers. and would have changed the date from 1940 to 1952 as the date for the creation of a record of admission for those illegally in the United States. The administration proposal would have removed the restriction against admission of feebleminded. insane and those of psychopathic personality. Under these proposals which were rejected. and I emphasize this. by the subcommittee and the full committee. thousands of persons underground now in the United States--subversives perhapsdeserting crewmen and criminals would have been given an opportunity to legalize their presence in the United States. This subcommittee and your full committee did not let this happen. I think it well to set up here the highlights of the new system. For the 3year period from 1965 to 1968 the total quota of immigration remains at 158.561. High quota countries as Great Britain. Germany. and Ireland retain their quotas for this transition period. Unused quota numbers from 1964 are brought forward for use this year to help liquidate the preference waiting list in oversubscribed countries. This is also in operation for the year 1966 and 1967. What we have done is to create an immigration pool of those numbers which are not now used. And they have not been used for a long number of years In our immigration pattern. Of the total of 158.561 we have had as a basis for entry into this country. only about 98.000 have been used. and the balance. or about 60.000. have gone by default and at the end of each year have been lost to any intending immigrants. What we do by this provision in the bill is recapture those numbers for a 3year period and permit the Secretary of State to reallocate those numbers to immigrants who have been waiting in the preference categories for long periods of time. We permit the reissuance of those numbers in order that on July 1. 1968. we will have cleaned out this long category of individuals who are family members. who have skills which entitle them to preference consideration under the present law. We will give them expedited entry into the United States. May I say here and now that somebody is going to say that this is going to bring into this country a great number of people in the next 3 years. By using this particular mechanism I want everybody in this committee to know that we are not doing anything for that intending immigrant that the passage o1 time would not do for him anyhow. He already has a preference category. With the passage of time. if we never did anything to the immigration law. that Intending immigrant would come to the United States of America. What we are doing is relieving a pressure point of this vast buildup of Intending immigrants in preference categories who have been waiting for yearsthe last count could well go back to 1955and we are going to clean that up over the next 3 years. so that by July 1. 1968. we will be able to establish an orderly pattern of immigration on a firstcome. firstserved basis. The subcommittee recognized that this was one of the real pressure points for reform. It came from the long list of relatives. from those already qualified and eligible. just sitting and waiting for a number to come up.