Mr. Chairman. the House can take pride in the passage of the immigration reform bill before us today. for it will serve a national principle of equality and human dignity. Our existing immigration law does not. It betrays both our national and international aspirations. I refer. of course. to the antiquated and discriminatory nationalorigins quota system. which for more than 40 years has Judged new Americans not on their individual worth. but almost solely on the basis of their nationality. The system is degrading and inflammatory. It reflects a sad and unnecessary conflict with our ideals. This bill. at long last. gives us the opportunity to abolish the system. I have favored repeal of the quota system since I first introduced a bill to reform the immigration law in 1959. The bill. which I reintroduced in each succeeding Congress. has been incorporated into the measure. H.R. 2580. to be voted on today. In common with my bill. H.R. 93. the measure moves toward the elimination of the quota system. The system would end July 1. 1968. In the meantime. the unused quota numbers will be redistributed among oversubscribed countries.
Keywords matched
quota system immigration