Speech #890120750

Mr. Chairman. I would like to commend the Judiciary Committee for the work it has done in studying and strengthening the immigration bill before us today. The bipartisan work of that committee represents a signal achievement in an historic effort to bring justice. sympathy and understanding to those who yearn to share the hope that is America. I heartily commend the subcommittee chairman. the able and highly respected gentleman from Ohio . for his outstanding work in this field. It has been a painstaking. complex and difficult subject. and we are greatly indebted to him for his superb leadership. And those of us who have staunchly advocated a revision of the immigration law to remove its glaring inequities and blatant discrimination are grateful indeed to the subcommittees ranking minority member. the distinguished gentleman from West Virginia . for his brilliant work. for the time. energy and effort he has devoted to the shaping of this legislation. Few men in this or any other Congress. understand more the details. the scope and the ramifications of immigration policy than the gentleman from West Virginia. I compliment him most enthusiastically. I also want to pay tribute to the gentleman from New York. the able and beloved chairman of the full committee . who has devoted so many years to the cause of immigration reform. No one has been a more vocal critic of existing policy. nor a more effective spokesman throughout the years for equity and Justice in our policy. I know how gratified and proud he must feel to see this bill before us today. and to see his long efforts and hopes come closer to realization. The national origin quota system. which this bill abolishes. has long been a source of great distress to me. The practice of determining a mans eligibility for immigration on the basis of his place of birth. or in some cases that of his ancestors. has always appeared to me to be clearly at variance with the American principles we cherish. The present outrageously discriminatory policy makes second class nationalities of many of the worlds people. Our immigration policy must dovetail with our foreign policy. if we expect to be huccessful in leading the free world. At this time. when we are trying to demonstrate the nobility of our cause to the peoples of eastern and southern Eurcpe. it is unconscionable to open our door to others and close it to them. In my many years of public life. it has always been my experience that Americans are concerned with .a mans merit and personal integrity. and not with his ethnic background or racial stock.