Mr. President. early this year I was privileged to be the principal cosponsor of a bill introduced by Senator PHILIP HART. of Michigan. to reform our immigration laws. This was the Senate companion to the House bill now before us. The President and his four predecessors in that office have all called for a revision and modernization of our immigration laws. Clearly the time has come to abolish the national origins system. Indeed. this action is long overdue. The national origins quotas are the antithesis of that for which we say the United States standsa land of equal opportunity for all. regardless of race. color. creed. or country of national origin. a haven for the oppressed peoples of the world. We are given to quoting the words on the Statue of Liberty on patriotic occasions. but for 40 years we have tolerated grossly inequitable immigration laws that belie those words. The people of the world are not blind to this sort of hyprocrisy. We sometimes wonder why we do not enjoy everyones unbridled friendship. We ask why our embassies are picketed by those we believe we have helped. To be sure. our immigration policies alone do not offer an explanation of this. but. as Secretary of State Dean Rusk has said: The national origins principle. rather than the facts of our actual immigration. Is picked up by people unfriendly to the United States and made an issue in their countries. This causes political disturbances in the good relations which we would hope to establish. But reforming our immigration laws just to enhance our foreign policy is only one reason for changing our policy. Immigration reform was urgently needed here at home. Our present laws actually deprive us of the contributions of brilliant. accomplished. and skilled residents of foreign countries who wafnt to bring their talents hereand who would not displace American citizens because of the great need we have here for their unique skills. In this regard let me say that the bill before us offers even more protection to American workers. while at the same time encouraging skilled and talented people to move to the United States. Primary responsibility is placed on the person who intends to immigrate to obtain the certification of the Secretary of Labor that his skills are needed in this country and are in scarce supply. People with needed skills are given a preferential status. If these symbolic. foreign policy. and domestic reasons for revision are not enough. there is a fourth groundsimple humanity. This is the most compelling of all the reasons to reform our laws and. above all. abolish the insidious national origins quotas. The cruel operation of our 40yearold immigration law has torn families apart. in some cases forcing them to choose between America and their children. The national origins quota provisions have meant that people wilth little or no skill can come into this country readily. if they have the right country of origin. A naturalized American from one of the southern or eastern European countries may have to wait 5 or more years to get his mother into this country. If he is from Asiaand somehow managed to overcome the policy of almost complete exclusion of these people--he may have to give up hope altogether of getting his mother into this country. And yet. either of these individuals could obtain a resident visa for his English maid in 5 weeks or less. A brilliant Korean or Indian scientist is turned away. while the northern European is accepted almost without question. The bill before us would abolish the AsiaPacific triangle provisions. which are nothing other than racial discrimination against Asians. While Plato and Dante would have a hard time getting into the United States if they were alive today. Confucius or Laotze could not get in at all. The national origins quotas and the AsianPacific triangle provisions are irrational. arrogantly intolerant. and immoral. The time has come to ask those who come to our doors what they can do for this countryto paraphrase President Kennedynot what country they come from or what their racial ancestry is. I share the concern of Senators KENNEDY of Massachusetts. HART. and JAVITS that the limitation proposed In this bill on immigration from Western Hemisphere countries is backsliding from the high principles of the bill itself. And I share their hope that when the Select Commission on Western Hemisphere Immigration studies this issue it will find that this limitation is unnecessary. I urge the Senate to give this bill its prompt approval. We have run out of adjectives to describe the import of the work we have done this session. but this bill reforming our immigration laws is truly something of which we can be proud. When we pass this bill we can hold our heads a little higher before the world.
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National origins quotas are the antithesis of that for which we say the United States standsa land of equal opportunity for all, regardless of race. color. creed. or country of national origin.