Speech #890136559

Errigo is the national chairman of the Sons of Italy. Mr. Errigo disagreed with me in respect to retaining the National Origins Quota System of the McCarranWalter Act. After my amendment. limiting immigration from the Western Hemisphere.. had been adopted by the subcommittee and approved by the full committee. I received from Mr. Errigo a fine letter endorsing the proposal. With his consent. I quote the following words from the letter: I am writing to congratulate you and to thank you for the excellent position you have taken relative to the immigration bill. Since we have established a ceiling for the rest of the world. it is altogether fitting and proper that we should establish a ceiling for the Western Hemisphere as well. This is in accord with our philosophy of equal justice under law for all. Those of us on the Immigration Subcommittee know Mr. Errigo to be a persistent foe on all he considers to be unjust law. We know him also as a consistent champion of equal application of law. - Mr. Errigo knows we must eliminate the most apparent discrimination of allthat which gives preference to the people of Chile over the people of Italy. and the people of Cuba over the people of France. our historic ally since the time of our independence. Although equal application of the law to all nations was my principal reason for proposing the amendment. there is another reason. There is a growing demand for immigration from our hemispheric neighbors. Immigration from the Western Hemisphere increased by 50 percent in the past decade to our present average of almost 150.000 a year. As Senators know. our own population is also increasing alarmingly. yet 5 percent of the annual additions to our total population comes from Western immigrants. and the percentage is going up. Of all the countries in our hemisphere. demographers tell us that only Mexicos rate of immigrationwhich numbers from 30.000 and 50.000 to the United States each yearwill remain stable. The problem in Canada is so serious. that officials of its Government have considered establishing restrictions to prohibit the great migration to the United States. which like Mexicos has averaged 30.000 to 50.000 a year. Presently. for every professional person who migrates to Canada. two leave. the principal reason being the higher salaries paid in the United States. There is also increasing pressure from the labor force for immigrant passports. this being the product of Canadas greatest domestic problemunemployment. The unemployment rate in Canada has averaged 6 percent in recent years. If we accept the proposition that an increasing professional force generates employment in the labor force. then we must conversely also assume that Canadas problem will worsen and thatmigration to the United States will increase. As my friends who oppose the amendment point out. "the majority of hemisphere immigrants come to us from Canada and Mexico." Although it is certainly true that the immigration from these two countries will not decrease. it is also clear that the time is fast approaching when we will receive even more from the other hemispheric countries. The bill should not offend Canada and Mexico. because of the distinction it makes between the Eastern Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere. The bill provides that no country of the Eastern Hemisphere shall be allowed to send to this country in any one year more than 20.000 immigrants. outside of members of families. The bill places no such limitation upon the various nations of the Western Hemisphere. and for this reason Canada and Mexico can continue to send into this country their immigrants free from any limitation other than the overall hemispheric limitation of 120.000. I spoke a moment ago about the probabilityindeed. I say the certaintythat immigration from South America. Central America. and the Caribbean Islands will increase with the passage of years. Undoubtedly it will become unmanageable unless we place realistic limitations on immigration from the Western Hemisphere. Immigration from South America has increased by a fantastic 230 percent in the last 5 years. and by almost 400 percent in the last 10 years. It is approaching the point where it will double each year. The figures for Central America are almost as high.