Speech #890146039

Mr. Speaker. I am in support of the conference report on the immigration bill which is now under consideration by the House. I think this bill is long overdue. Over a long period of time now. I have been filing and pressing a major immigration bill designed to remedy some of the problems that this bill deals with. It is a bill which would allocate and transfer some unused quota numbers from some nations to other nations having oversubscribed quotas. It had the support of three Presidents and many groups and people. My bill was designed. just as the current bill is. to reunite families and expedite the admission to the United States of the loved ones of American citizens who have served this Nation faithfully and well. established themselves here and brought up their children here. and who have as good loyal citizens contributed greatly. in war and peace. to the security. wellbeing and prosperity of our nation. Naturally I am gratified that the principles of immigration law which I have striven for so long in this body have finally been written into this great human charter of immigration which we are considering today. It was back in April 1953 that I first sponsored legislation to redistribute unused immigration quotas. which averaged about 60.000 yearly then. I did this in an effort to help correct the inequities in the immigration laws which discriminated against such countries as Italy and Greece in the allocation of immigration quotas. I was prompted then. as I am now in my support of the bill now before the House. to help unite families here with their loved ones remaining overseas. I was convinced then. and I am convinced now more than ever. that liberalization of the immigration laws is a matter of simple justice and I am glad that this House is finally acting to revise the national origins clause so as to help thousands of worthy American citizens with close relatives caught in the web of discriminatory quotas who have been waiting for many years for the chance to come to this country. As is the case in the bill now before the House. my bill was drafted in such a way that no increase in the overall quota totals is required. My bill merely redistributes the unused quotas with the added provision that those countries benefiting from the unused quota system would repay. whenever necessary. over a 5year period. the countries from which additional quota numbers have been received. This would help such nations as Poland. Lithuania.