Speech #890290548

Mr. President. on December 1 of last year. President Johnson signed into effect a new immigration law at the foot of the Statue of Liberty. It was a truly historic event for the citizens of the United States and for those of us in Congress who had worked for so many years .to reform our immigration laws. At long last the nationality quota system. first established in the twenties and perpetuated by the McCarranWalter Act of 1952. was eliminated. This was the most farreaching provision of the new law. Nations the world over praised our actions. which put an end to a system they had long viewed as discriminatory. In addition. the arbitrary boundary known as the AsiaPacific Triangle was eliminated. This aspect of the 1952 law had reduced immigration from the Far East to a trickle The new law also afforded traditional nonquota status to Trinidad and Tobago. two Latin American nations which have recently gained their independence. In addition. the new law created a quota "pool." designed to ease the strain of long waiting lists in countries with small annual quotas. The old nationality quota system had assigned exceedingly large quotas to many countries in northern Europe. notably Great Britain and Ireland. which were never able to make use of them. Under the Immigration Act of 1965. these unused quota numbers have been deposited in the pool and can be used for Italians. Greeks. and other nationalities whose small quotas have long been oversubscribed. Those countries which have a backlog of immigrants with relatives in the United States have benefited most from the pool. because families of American citizens and permanent residents have been assigned the highest priorities under the new preference system. And so the new law has served a dual purpose: First. it has reduced the long waiting lists of qualified visa applicants from such countries as Italy and Greece. and. second. it provides for the reunification of families by giving relatives the highest preferred status. All of these provisions have made the Immigration Act of 1965 an important and a successful piece of legislation. I am proud of the part I was able to play in the enactment of this law. I had the privilege of testifying on behalf of the bill when it was in its early committee status.