Mr. Speaker. a year ago today at the foot of the Statue of Liberty the President signed the bill which marked the end of the national origins quota system which for so many years unjustly governed our immigration policy. It was in his remarks on this occasion that the President answered Premier Castros challenge to permit Cubans wishing to flee the island to come to the United States by saying to the Cuban people that "those who seek refuge here will find it." The airlift of Cuban refugees began on December 1. 1965. In the past 10 months. planes charted by the U.S. Government have brought a total of 40.500 refugees from Cuba to freedom in the United States. With the assistance of the Cuban Refugee Center in Miami. directed by the Department of Health. Education. and Welfare. the various voluntary service agencies and the local Florida authorities and organizations. over 74 percent of these refugees have moved onward from Florida and found homes and jobs throughout the United States. It has been a smoothrunning. efficient. humanitarian operation in the best American tradition. one in which all of us may take great satisfaction. And the Cubans who have come to the United States are now putting their skills and energies to work to our advantage.
Keywords matched
immigration national origins quota Refugee refugees