Speech #890120783

It seems quite inconsistent that we should be asking people throughout the world to join usto fight and die for the cause of freedom and at the same time deny them an equal opportunity to become American citizens. The current policy also presents the ironic situation in which we are willing to send our American youth to aid these people in their struggle against Communist aggression while at the same time. we are indicating that they are not good enough to be Americans. Making our position in the world community more rational is not the only reason we should adopt a new immigration policy. The fact that the current national origins quota system has not met the needs of the time. in itself is a sound basis for making necessary changes. In recent years only about onethird of the immigrants who have entered the United States have done so under the quota system. The majority enter under private immigration legislation. For a Nation which prides itself on rule by law. it is unreasonable to allow a statute which does not meet the needs of the time to guide our policy. Another man from Massachusetts. our late President John F. Kennedy. summed up the situation when he said: The use of a national origins system is without basis in either logic or reason. It neither satisfies a national need nor accomplishes an international purpose. In an age of interdependence among nations. such a system Is an anachronism. for it discriminates among applicants for admission into the United States on the basis of accident of birth. This was no wispinthewillow idea of President Kennedys either. for he championed the cause of immigration reform as a Congressman and Senator and as President of the United States. As his brother. Senator Robert F. Kennedy noted in the introduction to President Kennedys book. "A Nation of Immigrants": I know of no cause which President Kennedy championed more warmly than the improvement of our Immigration policies. President Kennedy felt deeply about this subject because he believed. as I believe. that the pluralistic society which has resulted from the amalgamation of so many cultures has enriched the lives of all Americans and has strengthened our national character. President Johnson expressed similar sentiments in his immigration message to the Congress when he commented: A change is needed in our laws dealing with immigration. Four Presidents have called attention to serious defects in this legislation. Action is long overdue.