Speech #890136569

President. a compelling priority in any reform bill Is the urgent need to facilitate the reunion of families. The measure before us today stresses family unity. and accords nonquota status to the children. the spouses. and the parents of U.S. citizens. There is little doubt this measure goes a long way in solving the most pressing problem in immigration mattersfamily reunion. Mr. President. a third objective of the pending bill concerns the economic value of Immigration. Selective immigration can help meet urgent manpower needs. This fact is recognized in the present law which affords first preference to immigrants with special skills. Experience indicates. however. that the national origins quota system has inhibited the full use of this preference. Congress recognizes this situation. and has passed special legislation to permit the nonquota entry of selected immigrants. A good example is Public Law 87885. to permit the nonquota entry of several thousand specialized immigrants. These were persons certified by the Attorney General as having services urgently needed in the United States because of their education. special training. or exceptional ability. The bill cleared the way for a number of distinguished scientists whose special talents are vital to the performance of Important defense work. Nearly 50 hospitals. universities. and research organizations in all parts of the Nation are also benefiting by this special enactment. Under the national origins system these needed persons were inadmissible to our country. There is a sincere and quite understandable concern in some quarters over the economic impact of the projected change in our method of selecting immigrants. But. I submit to the skeptics. the pending measure will continue the historic value of immigration to our economy. Postwar immigration trends provide a reliable barometer for the future. Of the 4.400.000 immigrants who entered this country between 1947 and 1964. only 47 percent. some 2.100.000. actually entered the labor force. The percentage figure for 1964 was below this averagesome 44 percent. The remaining immigrants were housewives. children. and retired people. But they all have become consumers in the economy. Of this immigrant work force. some 16 percent. nearly 350.000. were professional and technical workers. Nearly an equal number were skilled workers. The record will show that the occupational distribution of recent immigrants has coincided with the needs of our economy. When these needs were inadequately filled under the basic quota formula. they were met by Congress with special legislation. In 1964 alone. over 20.000 immigrants in critical occupations. and listed by the Secretary of Labor. entered this country. Two out of every three professionals were in this category. Recent Labor Department reports reflect a continuing steady demand for qualified workers in many areas. Selective immigration under the pending legislation will help fill these jobs. In a recent report the National Science Foundation investigated the contribution made to Americas professional scientific manpower pool by foreignborn scientists and engineers. The report is directly related to the subject of immigration. the integration of immigrants into our society. and the continued need for. specialized personnel. The conclusions stated in part: Migrations to the United States have generally brought valuable numbers of scientists and persons capable of being trained as scientists * * * It is particularly interesting that the percentage of immigrant scientists In the United States has tended to increase in proportion to the level of scientific imminence. The majority of immigrant scientists in the United States probably settle down quickly in their new environment and make valuable contributions both to the cause of American science and to the general good of the Republic. Social and cultural maladjustment among immigrant scientists appears to be quite slight. Despite the fairly large influx of foreign scientists during the 1950s. there is no evidence that native American scientists have been placed in any great disadvantage by their presence. Since domestic institutions of higher education do not yet produce the countrys annual needed aggregate of scientists. it would seem reasonable to assume that the American scientific community could continue to absorb foreign scientists at approximately their present rate of entry for some time to come. Under section 10 of the bill. there is set forth a new directive to the Secretary of Labor for determining the needs for skilled and unskilled workers. Properly administered. I believe these guidelines will enable the American worker to be assured that his job security is not threatened by any new immigration. And it ought not to be threatened. At the same time it will permit a more precise determination of the availability of employment for these particular skills in a specific labor market area. It is my understanding that when an immigrant seeks admission under these categories as special immigrants or preference immigrants and a determination by the Secretary of Labor is required. the Secretary will make a certification in the case of the individual immigrant. He must ascertain the prospective immigrants skill and will match those skills with the employment and manpower reports he has available from the labor market area where the immigrant expects to reside. On the basis of such an analysis the Secretary will be in a position to meet the requirement of the law. and provide the type of employment safeguards sought in this legislation. Mr. President. the fourth objective of the pending measure reflects a sensitivity to the continuing problem of refugees. chiefly those from Communist dominated areas. In striking contrast to the lack of policy in present law. the legislation before us accords a preference status to some 10.200 refugees annually. This -authority will provide a needed instrument in our foreign policy. and be a true reflection of all Americas concern for the homeless and oppressed. The inclusion of a refugee preference is progress. although I had hoped the bill would also include a more flexible provision to permit a speedy American response to emergency refugee situations such as occurred in the Hungarian revolution. The parole provisions of present law. section 245. have been used in the past. This section is not repealed by the pending measureand this Is good. The House report. in outlining the specific use of the parole authority. might seem to attempt to exclude its application to large groups of refugees. At the same time. I would expect this general rule of thumb would not forego in all cases the use of section 245 for the conditional entry of refugees. if such were deemed in the national interest of our country. We cannot predict accurately what the future holds. But neither can we exclude a new Hungary and the terrible toll it will bring in human suffering and refugees. This will test the leadership of our country. The base provision in section 245 of existing law will continue to let our Nation respond quickly in dire emergency situations where freedom and lives of individuals are at stake. Some 250.000 Cubans have fled to this country since 1959. It was while I served as chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Refugees that much of this activity occurred. Their presence here was. and is. a new experience for America. For the first time America found itself the country of first asylum for a large group of refugees. The usual concerns associated with a sudden and abnormal influx of new people which were voiced in those first days have not materialized. The resettlement program for the victims of Castros tyranny have proved successful. They will stand to the credit of the people of our own country. The measure before us includes a provision affording the Cuban refugees the opportunity for adjustment of status from parolee to permanent resident. This provision is along the lines of a bill I introduced earlier this year. This is an important and needed provision for many who seek permanent asylum in our country. The United States has also had a positive experience with the more than 30.000 DutchIndonesian refugees admitted to this country. under special legislation. following their expulsion from Indonesia in the late fifties. Today some of these expellees remain in unsettled status in the Netherlands. These people also are deserving of additional resettlement opportunities in this country. The record on this bill should indicate there is a general awareness of the DutchIndonesian refugee problem. and that every effort should be made to provide resettlement opportunities within the framework of the pending legisIation. Mr. President.