Speech #890151194

Mr. Speaker. I was delighted to have been present to witness the signing of the new immigration bill by the President on last Sunday. October 3. 1965. at the historic site at the foot of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. Earlier this year. President Johnson had sent a special message to Congress urging it to pass the administrations immigration reform bill. I was one of the sponsors of this bill. and as a member of the Immigration Subcommittee. I took an active part in the hearings and worked hard for committee approval. and for passage in the House. As the President stated. the new law "repairs a deep and painful flow in the fabric of American justice." It has brought to an end after 40 years a policy of immigration based on the country of birth of those desiring to come to the United States. This system of quotas based on national origins allowed a mere three countries to account for 70 percent of the total quotas. And. ironically. these countries fell short of their quotas by about 50.000 a yeara number that could not be used by the people of other countries with long waiting lists. The system was undemocratic in concept. indicating that we considered people from certain nations less desirable than others. and it was often cruel in operation. keeping families from uniting because a parent or a son or daughter had been born in the wrong country. The new law uses a standard we can all respect and one that reflects the true spirit of America. It says that those who apply for immigration to the United States will be allowed to enter because of their skills or their relationship to persons who are already citizens or residents of the United States. Selection from the total of those qualified for admission will be on a firstcome. firstserved basis. No longer will we ask. "Where were you born?" Today. the question is "What can you contribute?" or "Whom do you have in this land?" The old days of largescale immigration to this Nation are long past. and no one seriously suggests that they be brought back. The new law is not designed to do so and will enlarge the immigration into this country only by the amount of the unused quotasthat is. by about 50.000 a year. As I have said. the main purpose of the law is simply to establish a system for choosing among those who want to come here that is fair and in the best interests of the Nation. This legislation is the end product of 20 years of effort. President Truman pointed out that the national origins quota system was opposed to the American tradition and harmful to our foreign policy. President Eisenhower asked for a change in the system in 1956. calling attention to its discriminatory nature. President Kennedy. in proposing the bill that was the forerunner of the one submitted by President Johnson. called the system arbitrary. The action of the Congress this year has thus met the call of four Presidents and has brought us back to an admissions systems that we can administer with a clear conscience. There are always those who are afraid that any change in immigration law will lead to a loss of jobs for our workers or an increase in our welfare rolls. They need have no fear on this score. The bill strengthens the provisions of the law under which the Secretary of Labor has the authority to keep out immigrants who would take work from our citizens or depress wages or working conditions here. And every immigrant under the bill. just as under prior law. must of course show that he will not become a public charge before he can obtain a visa to enter the United States. The new law makes no changes in the safeguards of our present laws which prohibit the admission of subversives. persons with criminal records. narcotic addicts. and other undesirables. The same strict standards that we have been enforcing in the past will continue as before.