Precedent for such legislation was clearly established in 1958 when a similar bill helped Portuguese victims in the Azores. The present situation is equally as tragic and requires prompt action to aid those who have lost their homes and jobs. Current immigration laws prohibit many of these refugees from entering the United States because of the 20.000peryear country limitation. This legislation would exempt these refugees from this limitation. Mr. Speaker. these refugees would not be given carte blanche entry. Prospective immigrants would still have to fulfill the eligibility requirements established under present law. The bill is aimed primarily at exempting the victims of this unfortunate disaster from normal country quota limitation. Finally. let me simply observe that many of these Sicilians have relatives in the United States.
Keywords matched
immigration immigrants refugees