Speech #890139725

Mr. President. the figures are broken down into two basic groups of quota immigrants as authorized under the national origin provision of the McCarranWalter Act and nonquota immigrants who were admitted under other provisions of the McCarranWalter Act or special legislation enacted by Congress. In the period from 1946 to 1959. some 3.146.168 immigrants were admitted to the United States. Of these. less than half. 1.500.425. were admitted as quota immigrants. The balance were admitted under special legislation or under other provisions of the McCarranWalter Act which did not contain the limitation of national origins. I believe that the record will bear out the fact that few countries have been as generous as the United States in accepting the displaced and the homeless peoples of the world. I cannot understand those who attack our basic law simply because it attempts to continue the cultural heritage. political and social traditions of this Nation. The Congress has been more than generous in departing from the basic law of national origins to take care of special hardship cases such as the Hungarian and Cuban refugees. We have more than met our international responSibilities as a great world power in helping to alleviate the suffering of oppressed people in distressed areas of the world. It has been argued that. because the United States contains a large land mass. it can absorb countless millions of the worlds population. When the vast land area of Alaska is added to that of the U.S. mainland. it is argued that we can easily accommodate many millions more. The fact of the matter is the total population of Alaska today is not sufficient to maintain a goodsized town and there is no indication that immigrants coming into this country desire to move to Alaska. I do not have the figures available. but I seriously doubt that any of the Cuban. Hungarian. or other refugees have migrated to Alaska. The truth of the matter is. .as I have pointed out earlier. that new immigrants to this country move Into the huge urban areas primarily on the east and west coasts and add further to the population explosion problem with which we and the rest of the world are faced. There are no new frontiers in the United States where pioneers can settle and establish homes for themselves and their children. Using Samuel Lubbells definitionthat a frontier exists where a man faces a factthe only frontiers remaining in this Nation are those which exist in the sprawling urban areas where the poor and culturally backward groups must fight to maintain a subsistence living. Changes in our Immigration law would only add to the ghettos which already abound in our great cities. I have prepared a table which I am introducing at this point in my remarks. showing a comparison from 1920 through 1964 of the annual immigration figures in relation to the numbers of unemployed in this country.