Speech #890132392

Mr. Speaker. I take this opportunity to express my support for H.R. 2580. to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act. which recently passed the House of Representatives. I believe that legislation of this nature is long overdue and that its eventual enactment has been a foregone conclusion for some time. I should like to congratulate and express my appreciation to the members of the Immigration Subcommittee for the constructive work they have done in formulating this bill. It is the product of many months of hard work on their part. I have supported this bill because I feel that it will place our immigration selection system upon a more rational basis and one which will better serve the needs of this country. The existing national origins quota system has resulted in an unfair distribution of immigrant visas that has been having some countries allotted many more than their needs require while other countries have built up huge waiting lists. The normal forces of supply and demand cannot function under such a system. The basic inequities in the existing quota system have impelled Congress to enact numerous laws during the past dozen years to meet Amergency conditions. These have included laws for the relief of refugees and the victims of natural disasters and to assist in the reunification of families with some of their members barred from entrance by oversubscribed quotas. The bill that passed the House is designed to take care of problems like these as well as to incorporate other improvements in the law. This legislation emphasizes the importance of reuniting families and at the same time. includes safeguards to protect the American working people from unfair competition and the lowering of wages. While I supported the bill. I felt that it could have been improved by the adoption of the socalled McGregor amendment limiting the volume of immigration from the Western Hemisphere. Since one of the purposes of the legislation is to eliminate discrimination based on place of birth. I think that we should complete the job by eliminating preference based upon the hemisphere in which a prospective immigrant happened to be born. The dire predictions that have been made claiming that. this legislation will swamp the country with a new wave of immigration are completely without foundation. The bill would make a moderate increase in the total number of immigrants admissible. At the same time the qualitative controls. excluding certain types of immigrants such as subversives and those likely to become public charges. are retained and even strengthened by the bill. For these reasons. Mr.