Speaker. we have all read of the havoc and misery which a capricious nature has again inflicted on the island of Sicily. Again. as has so often happened in the past. this beautiful island jewel has been turned into an earthly inferno. visiting desolation and the loss of their homes on thousands of its inhabitants. I have today introduced H.R. 14806. a bill to permit 5.000 of these homeless unfortunates to be brought to this country as refugeeimmigrants. I have restricted their selection to those who have already been approved for immigration to this country on the petition of their U.S. relatives or their prospective American employers. By limiting the selection to these classes we will not require a large. cumbersome. timeconsuming administrative machinery speedily to move these refugees since housing and employment will already have been guaranteed by their existing sponsors. Currently these people cannot come to this country because of the limitation of 20.000 per year which the law places on natives of a single country. By permitting the entry of 5.000 refugees from Sicily between now and July 1. we would be in effect. raising this ceiling to 20.000 for this 1 year. By exempting these 5.000 refugees from the total annual ceiling of 170.000 immigrants. they will not come at the expense of any other national or ethnic group. There is historic precedent for this action in the legislation which has been enacted on prior occasions to authorize the entry of the earthquake victims of the Azores. I am confident that the Congress will speedily enact this humanitarian measure.
Keywords matched
immigrants immigration refugees refugeeimmigrants