Speech #890119661

It cannot. And because it is based upon false principles It has not worked. Only twothirds of the quota numbers available have been used in recent years. while the waiting lists for quota visas have built up into tremendous backlogs in many of the lowquota countries. Congress has recognized the shortcomings of this system and has enacted numerous special immigration laws to overcome emergency situations that have arisen because of it. These have included laws for the benefit of refugees. laws granting nonquota status to preference immigrants on oversubscribed quotas and innumerable private relief bills. It is time we stopped trying to heal the patient with temporary palliatives and performed the radical surgery that is necessary to correct the basic cause of his illness. The reported bill would accomplish this purpose by abolishing the national origins quota system and replacing it with a new system of immigation selection. This new system will not only extend the principles of fairness and equality to prospective immigrants. It will also inprove the overall quality of the immigrants admitted and it will do so without increasing the volume of immigration disproportionately. In answer to the arguments that have been raised against other current immigration bills from the standpoint of their effect on the labor market of the country. the reported bill contains new safeguards to protect the domestic worker from job competition and from adverse working conditions as a result of the immigration of foreign workers. If administered correctly these new safeguards will offer the American worker more protection against immigrant workers than he now enjoys. The bill can have only one effect: improvement in our immigration system by eliminating from the law provisions which do not reflect the true traditions and ideals of this country and which have not in fact operated to control our immigration policy as they were intended to do. It is clear to me. therefore. that the bill should be adopted.