Speech #890303896

We do not have all the answers on how we can best work toward this end. but the need is clear. This pilot program would support aid projects to advance this aim in countries which were taking steps to help themselves. Finally. this bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to authorize the President to enter bilateral agreements with individual developing countries affecting our immigration and visa policies. and these countries exit policies. Such agreements would be a means of bringing balance. to our immigration policiesthese policies now admirably recognize our willingness to welcome newcomers from throughout the world. and our needs for professional and skilled manpower. But they do not take adequate account of the needs of countries whose rapid development is In our own national interest. These agreements would not represent a sweeping change in our immigration policies. being Individual and specific. they would relate to the particular problems of particular countries. and only those countries which were taking steps to help themselves. But they would be a means of countering. on a limited basis. the clear effect that the 1965 immigration legislation has already had in exacerbating the brain drainan effect seen in the increase of professional Immigrants from India from 54 in fiscal year 1965 to 1.750 last year. As a cosponsor of the 1965 act. I remain a strong supporter of elimination of the national origins quota system. But in countries severely hurt by the brain drain. some adjustment is clearly needed. The bilateral agreements this bill proposes could make such an adjustment in one or more of several ways. They could require that some or all students who henceforth come to the United States from a particular country would receive visas requiring them to return home for 2 years. before being eligible for permanent immigration to the United States. This would meet the problem of those who come here on temporary visas as students and then. either through a sincere change in plans or. in some cases. through premeditation. adjust their status to permanent resident. These agreements could.- in certain specific cases. provide that the privilege of receiving a U.S. immigrant visa be restricted for those whose departure from their homelands would be extremely detrimental to their countries because of the need for their talents. But this could only be done if such persons were guaranteed good professional opportunities. and a reasonable chance to develop a rewarding professional life. Finally. these agreements could provide that the United States would not grant immigrant visas to those from developing countries who violated reasonable contracts with these countries relating to their return. For example. some foreign nationals who come here temporarily agree that they will return home for a certain number of years to put their training to work. Or they may agree that if they do not return home. they will pay to their home countries a certain sum of money in recognition of the value of the education and training they have received at their countrys expense. A bilateral agreement authorized by the President could provide. if the President so desired. that a person violating such a contract would not be issued an American immigrant visa. Neither if applied individually nor if taken together would these proposals mean an immediate. substantial cutback in the flow of talented people from developing countries to our own. They are limited. and rightly so. because in this area also we would be experimenting. and still searching for the best means of dealing with this complex problem. And the bill would specifically exempt from these provisions all refugees unable to return home for fear of political. racial. or religious persecution. But the bilateral approach. although somewhat unusual in immigration policy. has two major advantages in combating the brain drainit enables us to focus on countries where the problem is most acute. and it provides that action not be limited to the United States alone. but that developing nations themselves contribute in more than equal measure to stemming the flow of talent. As with the other proposals in this bill. it would recognize that the brain drain is a major international problem. And it would enable us to take some beginning steps in dealing with this problem.