Speech #890120791

Mr. Chairman. I am proud to rise in support of the Immigration Act of 1965. a long overdue piece of legislation which should pass overwhelmingly today. All we have to do to see the necessity for this measure is to look at this year 1965 and at the year 1924 when the original Immigration and Nationality Act. based on the national origins quota system. was passed. This year. 1965. is a year of progress. a year when we and other men are beginning to move toward the realization of a society in which all men are truly free and equal. In 1924. we were striving to "return to normalcy." a normalcy which could be no more. It was the aftermath of World War I. a holocaust which revolted the American people and made them turn into the shell of isolationism. feeling secure in the expanse of ocean which separated the United States from her allies and enemies. from the peoples and problems of the rest of the world. And the feelings of this year. coupled with the events of the past decade. brought about a system known as the national origins quota system. which said that others of your nationality must be in the majority in the United States before you stood a Chinamans chance of entering the land of the free and the home of the brave. Now is our chance to change this policy which has worked so much against the best interests of the United States and of the world. The current policy. cornerstone of the U.S. view toward immigrants for the past 40 years. cannot escape the label "unfair." It Is a system which allows Great Britain more than 65.000 emigrants to this Nation per year. and which sees less than half of this amount used annually by England. And it sees us impose a quota of 100 per year on nations such as Iraq. Korea.