Mr. Speaker. yesterday I introduced special legislation to authorize the immediate entry into the United States of aliens who have been displaced as a result of the catastrophic earthquakes in Sicily earlier this month. My legislation would make available special nonquota immigrant visas to those earthquake victims uprooted from their homes and in urgent need of assistance. The wives and children of such aliens would also be issued special visas. Because of the Immigration and Nationality Acts existing provisions which allocate the number of visas to be issued under each category and place a ceiling on the number of immigrants drawn from one country. special legislation is necessary to provide visas to these distressed aliens so that they will not be charged against the Italian quota. Precedent for this type of special legislation was established in 1958 when similar legislation was enacted to help Portuguese victims of volcanic eruptions in the Azores. The tragic loss of lives and disastrous loss of property as a result of the Sicilian earthquakes have totally disrupted the island.
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