Speech #890120785

Mr. Chairman. I should like to make a brief statement concerning the bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act. The national origins quotas system has been a matter of controversy in the Congress for many years. The system was first adopted over 40 years ago amidst a storm of protest. It was continued in existence by the McCarranWalter Act in 1952 after heated debate and over the veto of President Truman. President Kennedy lent inestimable support to the efforts to improve our immigration system when he sent his immigration message and recommended legislation to Congress in July of 1963. President Johnson has given his complete and active support to this legislation ever since he took office. having urged its adoption in his first state of the Union address and on numerous occasions since. including a special message to Congress on January 13 of this year. Extensive hearings on immigration have been held by subcommittees in both the House and the Senate over the past 2 years. A bill was favorably reported by the House Judiciary Committee which I believe is good legislation. The bills purpose is to abolish the national origins quota system. which has long been criticized as fundamentally unworkable. All of this would seem to indicate that some action Is about to be taken on this longdelayed issue. That is why I am taking this opportunity to urge the adoption of H.R. 2580. the bill recommended by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. I think that it is important that we recognize precisely what this bill will do and what it will not do. There are several false apprehensions concerning the effects of this bill which should be put to rest. Many fear that the bill will result in a wholesale increase in immigration. This is not true. It is estimated that immigration which has averaged around 360.000 annually in recent years. will not surpass 360.000 under the bill. The main purpose of the bills substitute for the national origins quota system is to put our immigrant selection policy on a purely nondiscriminatory basis. one which would judge every Immigrant upon his own merits rather than granting one an advantage over the other because of the accident of his place of birth. A second misapprehension concerning the bill is that it may have unfavorable effects on labor market conditions in this country. This. understandably. is a matter of primary importance to the American worker and is probably the overriding consideration for many. This misapprehension is unsound for a number of reasons. First. the number of additional immigrants allowed to enter the country under the bill who would be candidates for the labor force would be less than 25.000. In a labor force fast approaching 80 million workers78.4 million in May 1965this increaseroughly three onehundredths of 1 percentwould hardly cause a ripple on the Nations labor pool. Second. it should be remembered that all of the additional immigrants resulting from enactment of the billIncluding workers and nonworking spouses and childrenwould be consumers whose everyday demands for goods and services would add to the national production and provide additional job opportunities for American workers. Third. there are qualitative controls under existing law. which would be maintained under the bill. that would prevent immigration from having an adverse effect upon employment in this country. The two principal such controls are the provision barring from entry any alien who is likely to become a public charge and the provision granting the Secretary of Labor authority to exclude immigration which would adversely affect wages and working conditions of workers in the United States. The finaland I believe the most Importantpoint I would make regarding the bills effects on employment is that the bill is designed to attract immigrants whose skills and talents would contribute to the economic and cultural growth of this country. The real unemployment problem in this country today is limited almost exclusively to unskilled workers. those capable of performing only unskilled tasks that no longer exist because of sweeping technological advances. Actually. we have a shortage of skilled manpower. which can be and is now being met in part by immigration. The bill would make several changes to allow these skilled immigrants easier access to our shores. Once they are here they will not displace American workers. On the contrary they will in many cases provide additional jobs for American workers. For example. the employment of an engineer in a position now unfilled would call for the hiring of several technicians to back him up. Several immigrants of the recent past. such as Enrico Fermi and Igor Sikorski. have helped to open up whole new industries in this country. And who knows where the next Fermi or Sikorski will come from? Mr. Chairman. the Immigration and Nationality Act is a rather lengthy and complex statute. But the purpose of this bill is simple and easily understood. And when this purpose is understood it should not be controversial. There is no hidden nefarious motive behind the bill to undermine our American way of life by throwing open the floodgates to cheap foreign labor or subversive individuals. Spokesmen for organized labor and the American Legion have recently testified to these points. It Is time we recognized the many myths that have developed concerning the repeal of the national origins quota system for what they are. This bill was prepared with the assistance of experts in the Departments of Justice and State who are charged with the administration of our immigration system. I am confident that it is a practical bill. which will remove a source of embarrassment abroad and frustration within this country with an outmoded. highly discriminatory and unworkable quota system which touches the lives of many of our citizens very Intimately. I therefore urge its adoption by the Congress.