Speech #890120980

I rise in opposition to this amendment on the ground that foreign policy considerations far outweigh the other issues involved here. Mr. Chairman. the Immigration Subcommittee has done an outstanding job of bringing to the Judiciary Committee and to the House a legislative proposal that is reasoned. moderate. and effective. The absence of bitter debate in the House today is evidence that the bipartisan authors of this billthe members of the subcommitteehave achieved a remarkable degree of agreement on a subject charged with emotional controversy. One of the reasons for the broad support for this bill is the fact that it contains administrative reforms and qualitative controls that do apply to applicants for entry to the United States from the whole world. Under these circumstances. it seems that the imposition of a Western Hemisphere ceiling is primarily a foreign affairs problem rather than an issue of internal legislation. On an issue of foreign policy I feel bound to give first priority to my conscientious view as to the vital interest of the Nations welfare as affected by its relations with other nations. though that necessarily brings my opinion in conflict with that of my good friend from Minnesota. I feel that it is essential that we support the views of the Secretary of State on the question of imposition of a ceiling on immigration from the Western Hemisphere. We have not experienced any problem to date and. as I have already said and as Secretary Rusk has pointed out. the question is simply one of foreign policy. There is little likelihood of a practical problem of being flooded by Western Hemisphere immigration. The bill. in addition to the builtin administrative safeguards available to the Secretary of State and Secretary of Labor. provides in section 11 (d) that the President must bring to the attention of the Congress any marked increase in immigration from the Western Hemisphere so that we are alerted and can take any desirable action. Under the direction of great Secretaries of State such as John Quincy Adams and Elihu Root the special relationship existing between the nations of the Western Hemisphere has been recognized. Nothing today materially changes that historic affirmity of sister republics.