Speech #890294339

Mr. Speaker. today is the first anniversary of the act signed on October 3. 1965. that repealed the national origins quota system which. for more than 40 years. restricted immigration into the United States on the basis of race and national origin. The new immigration law. while not materially increasing the volume of authorized immigration into the United States. substituted the principles of reuniting fainilies and admitting persons with skills needed in this country for the former discriminations based on the accident of ancestry or country of birth. Mr. Speaker. on September 1 of this year I took the floor to give the Members of the House meaningful information and the preliminary statistics available on the first 6month period of operation of the new law. The final figures for fiscal year 1966 are now available. and I would like to highlight the notable results of the Immigration Act of 1965. We now have concrete evidence that the legislation is accomplishing its intended goals. Although the total immigration showed a slight increase in fiscal year 1966. 311.356 compared to 287.679 in fiscal year 1965. there was a substantial and favorable change in the character of the immigration. as is shown by comparing the first 5 months. operating under the old law. with the last 7 months. the first period under the new law. The results are most encouraging and bear out the intent of the work done by my subcommittee to develop a selective system strictly based on the primary importance of the reunification of families. humanitarian in character and consistent with our national interests. It is significant to note that approximately 65 percent of the Visas issued under the preference provisions of the new law were issued to relatives of U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens. This is in sharp contrast to the meager 12 percent that were issued under the old preference system. This shift was also reflected in the issuance of nonpreference visas. which dropped from 75 to 12 percent of the total. The largest increases came. as expected. in the admissions of unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens over 21 years of age. married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens. brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens. and the spouses and minor children of permanent resident aliens. Another major increase resulted from the removal of the numerical limitation on parents of U.S. citizens. who now no longer have to wait for a visa number to become available. During the first 5 months. 1.558 visas were issued under the old numerical limitations. during the first 7 months of the new law. 4.663 parents of U.S. citizens entered without delay. During fiscal year 1965 more than 55.000 visas went unused. These numbers. as pfrovided in the Immigration Act of 1965. were put into a pool and reallocated to those quota areas where there were long waiting lists. It is fully anticipated that by July 1. 1968. substantially all of those persons. whose names are now on waiting lists. will have been reached for visa issuance. Immigration from independent countries of the Western Hemisphere declined somewhat. dropping from a total of 153.487 in fiscal year 1965 to 141.911 during fiscal year 1966. Although the major shift in the pattern of immigration noted above is due to the changes in emphasis of the preference system. some of this change was due to the initial effects of the new labor certificate requirement. This requirement was adopted to insure that immigrants. except for specified relative categories. would not take jobs which could be filled by American workers. and that their entry would not adversely affect wages and working conditions in the United States. However. it appears that the initial difficulties with the labor provision are disappearing as all concerned become more familiar with the procedures for obtaining certifications. and as improvements are made in the applicable regulations. For example. I am informed by the Visa Office of the Department of State that immigration from Great Britain and Northern Ireland. which dropped from over 28.000 In fiscal year 1965 to 20.000 In fiscal year 1966. has now risen to its fiscal year 1965 level. Estimates made on the basis of figures now available indicate that the use of numbers during this fiscal year. both from the national quotas and the pool. will approach the maximum of 170.000. It Is now evident that there is a demand for the full 84.225 pool numbers available this fiscal year. and that more than likely they will be fully used. Time has demonstrated. on the anniversary of the Immigration Act of 1965. that this legislation is sound. both domestically and internationally. This is a source of personal pride and satisfaction to me as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Nationality. Nevertheless. because- of the complexity of our immigration system. there are still some problems that remain unsolved and I intend to work toward further improvement of our immigration laws. Under leave granted. I include an informative summary of the accomplishments of the Immigration Act of 1965 excerpted from the annual report of the Visa Office for fiscal year 1966 which is now being printed.