Speech #900023574

Mr. President. after 1 year of experience under the historic Immigration Reform Act which Congress passed in 1965. statistics recently released by the Department of State show that immigration from all over the world has been more evenly distributed than under the old immigration law. These figures show that 34.7 percent of all quota immigrants came from northern Europe. 32.5 percent from southern Europe. and 19.9 percent from Asia and the Pacific. Undoubtedly. the new law has considerably eased the heavy backlog of immigrants coming from the extremely oversubscribed areas of the worldsouthern Europe. and the AsiaPacific. area. I am tremendously encouraged by all of this evidence indicating the unmistakable progress we are making to cut the backlog and correct the gross inequities of our past immigration Policies. as we celebrate the first anniversary of the historic Immigration Reform Act. Among the key provisions of that lawwere: First. the elimination of the national origins system and the AsiaPacific Triangle. Which were harshly racially discriminatory. and second. allowirig the reallocation of a pool of unused quota numbers from undersubscribed countriesmainly from Western Europeto nations having huge backlogs of persons wishing to immigrate to the United Stateslargely in southern Europe and Asia-. Pacific areas. Although the Immigration Reform Act did not become effective until December 1. 1965. figures released in the annual report of the Visa Office of the Department of States Bureau of Consular Affairs show that immigration from the AsiaPacific area increased from 3.536 in fiscal year 1965July 1. 1964June 30. 1965to 25.115 in fiscal 1966--July 1. .1965June 30. 1966. The fiscal 1966 figure of 25.115 for Asia and the Pacific counts only quota immigrants and does not include nonquota immigrants. immediate relatives. and other adjustments. When these nonquota numbers are added to the quota figures. another aspect of the dramatic impact of the new law may be seen. These overall. totals. show that thousands of families were reunited last year -as a direct result of the new law. The total number of immigrants admitted in fiscal 1966. including quota as well as nonquota numbers. was 311.356129.797 quota immigrants. and 181.386 nonquota. This compares with 287.679 in fiscal. 1965102.892 quota. and 184.787 nonquota. Mr. President. I ask.unanimous con-. sent that table I of the Visa Office report. showing immigrant visas issued. adJustments of status. and refugees admitted or adjusted. for fiscal years 196266. be printed at this point in the RECORD.