Speech #890120700

Until the court ruled otherwise. it was intended that the term "psychopathic personality" should embrace "sexual deviation." By using that precise medical term. the bill makes it plain that the Congress intends that aliens afflicted with that disgraceful disability be excluded from our shores. In only one important particular does the present version of H.R. 2580 resemble the original version. and that resemblance is qualified. As originally Introduced. the bill would have repealed the national origins system immediately. As now written. repeal is postponed for 3 years. and in the interval. unused quotas are made available to the nations with oversubscribed quotas. Since first enacted on May 26. 1924. the national origins system as a concept has been a focal point of national and international debate. Its purpose has been called worthy and unworthy. Whether the concept is sound or unsound. the purpose worthy or unworthy. debate is no longer relevant. The question is moot. The purpose has not been achieved. The national origins system has not maintained the ethnic ratios of the American population which prevailed in 1920. As early as 15 years ago. after the system had been in operation for only 25 years. there were as many aliens entering this country outside the quota system as inside it. For the last 3 years. for every immigrant entering under the quota system. there were two entering by other means. entirely within the law as amended by Congress from time to time. Accordingly. to condemn this bill because it phases out the national origins system is to tilt at a windmill which has long since quit pumping water. It is less quixotic and avails more to aim our energies at another target. What we need to do is to fashlon a substitute system which promotes family solidarity and fosters cultural and technological growth but which at the same time protects the national interest against a population surplus and a natural resources deficit. That is an altogether legitimate target. and the bill before us goes a long way in the direction of the target. It places a numerical ceiling of 170.000 on immigration from the Eastern Hemisphere. However. it falls short of the target because it places no ceiling on immigration from the Western Hemisphere. This is regrettable. not only because it ignores the imminent danger of a population surplus in the United States. it Is regrettable because it works the injustice of inequality. It is no answer to say that the present law places no limit on the Western Hemisphere. That is simply to confess that there is injustice in the present law. and such a confession in no way argues that the injustice of inequality should be perpetuated. Indeed. the entire purpose of this legislation is to eliminate from our immigration laws discrimination based on geographical origin. So long as there is a numerical ceiling on the number of immigrants who will be admitted to the United States from the Eastern Hemisphere and no ceiling on the number of immigrants who will be admitted to the United States from the Western Hemisphere. this legislation will have failed in its stated purpose. Indeed. the discrimination will be threefold. In three ways. it will be easier for a man born in the Western Hemisphere to obtain an immigrant visa. First. he will not be subject to a hemisphere ceiling like the man born in the Eastern Hemisphere. Second. he will not be subject to a national ceiling like the man born in a nation in the Eastern Hemisphere. Third. he will not have to qualify in one of the preference categories like the man born in the Eastern Hemisphere. So. in the absence of the MacGregor amendment. this bill will still discriminate against people on account of their place of birth. The MacGregor amendment. following the blueprint of the bill itself which fixes the ceiling for the 109 nations of the Eastern Hemisphere at 170.000. would impose a numerical ceiling of 115.000 immigrants for the 24 countries of the Western Hemisphere. Like the Eastern Hemisphere ceiling. this ceiling would not apply to the spouses. children. and parents of American citizens. The first important thing to understand is that the MacGregor amendment is not numerically punitive. On the contrary. the ceiling it imposes is 4.000 higher than the average annual immigration from the Western Hemisphere in the last 10 years. Moreover. the two hemisphere ceilings jointly authorize a world total of 285.000. This total is greater than the annual average. exclusive of immediate relatives. for the last 3 years. It is equally important to understand. however. that the MacGregor amendment recognizes the inescapable fact that. in the absence of a ceiling. Western Hemisphere immigration will expand at a dramatic pace in the immediate future. Modern history clearly reflects the trend. In the 5 years between 1955 and 1959. Western Hemisphere Immigration averaged 97.713 per year. In the 5 years between 1960 and 1964. the annual average was 125.014including spouses. children. and parents. This represents an increase of better than 25 percent.