Speech #890133077

Mr. President. one of the major issues yet to come before the Senate. before adjournment this year. is the proposed revision of the U.S. Immigration laws. The subject of immigration has appeared on most of the lists of "must" legislation I have seen in recent weeks. The President has made several statements stressing its importance. The national origins concept. which underlies the present system. was first proposed on April 11. 1924. and was based on the national origins of the inhabitants of the United States according to the 1920 census. exclusive of. first. natives of independent countries of the Western Hemisphere. second. persons of Asian ancestry. third. descendants of African immigrants. and fourth. descendants of American aborigines. The proposal was voted down in the House of Representatives. but it was inserted in the Senate and retained in conference. The Senate and House agreed to the conference report. and the bill. as amended. became law on May 26. 1924. The original objective of the 1924 act was to maintain the ethnic composition of the American people. on the premise that some nations are far closer to the United States in culture. customs. standards of living. respect for law. and experience in selfgovernment. The act was denounced by some people as racially biased. statistically incorrect. and a clumsy instrument of selection based on discrimination against nations. In 1952. the Immigration and Nationality Act was passed. this legislation being a codification of a multitude of laws governing immigration and naturalization in the United States. The immigration quotas provided therein were. in general. patterned after the national origins system. contained in the Immigration Act of 1924. in that the number of quota immigrants entering the United States during any one year was limited and a distribution of the annual quota among the various quota areas was provided. The national origins provision was the subject of debate in both Houses of the Congress. President Truman vetoed the bill but. notwithstanding his strong opposition. the Presidents veto was overridden by the Congress and the Immigration and Naturalization Act became law. I have only two objections to the present system. One is that it applies no limitation on immigration from South America and other Western Hemisphere countries and. theoretically. any number of persons could emigrate to the United States from the Western Hemisphere countries immediately. This weakness has not had too great an impact upon our country up to the present moment. largely because South American countries have been absorbing their own population increase very well. Yet. the day is not far off. when the population explosion in Latin American countries will exert great pressures upon those people to emigrate to the United States. It will be my intention. therefore. to support a limitation on the number of imCI151 migrants from Western Hemisphere countries. but I fear that such a limitation. if it is retained in the Senate bill. may be scrapped in the subsequent conference with the House of Representatives. My other objection is that under the present system. certain countries. such as Italy and Greece. for example. whose peoples do assimilate readily and easily into the American society. have been disadvantaged. Notwithstanding the two objections I have iterated. I think the basic national origins quota system should be retained. I realize that it has been nullified to a great extent by amendments and special refugee laws and other legislation in the form of private bills. The system has been castigated and vilified by those who declare that it discriminates against other nations. but. on the whole. I consider it to be a just and wise system.