Speech #900228048

I would like to note that when the bill was being considered by the Committee on Foreign Relations. I proposed an amendment which was reJected by the committee. My amendment was designed to make section 212 (a)28 of the Immigration and Nationality Act inapplicable to anyone seeking to enter the United States as a nonImmigrant temporarily for business or for pleasure. Section 212(a) 28 provides. among other things. that an alien is ineligible for a visa of any kind if he is an anarchist or a member of the Communist Party of the United States or any other foreign state. if he advocates the doctrines of world communism. or if he is affiliated with any organization required to be registered under the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950. At first glance. it might appear that the abrogation of section 212 (a) 28 of the Immigration and Nationality Act--even for temporary visitors to the United States--would constitute a radical change in the qualitative restrictions which have been in force heretofore. A more thorough examination of the act will prove otherwise. In the first place. any visa applicant who is considered a security risk continues to be ineligible for admission to the United States under sections 212(a) 27 and 29 of the Immigration Nationality Act. Let me stress thatmy amendment would continue to keep out all persons classified as security risks. In the second place. section 212(d) 3 of the Immigration and Nationality Act provides that an alien. who might otherwise be ineligible for a visa under section 212(a) 28. "may. after approval by the Attorney General of a recommendation by the Secretary of State or by the consular officer that the alien be admitted temporarily despite his inadmissibility. be granted such a visa and may be admitted to the United States temporarily as a nonimmigrant in the discretion of the Attorney General." As a matter of practice. such waivers. which are based on the recommendation of the Department of State. are almost always granted automatically. In other words. the present procedure has become anachronism. Mr. President. the simple purpose of my amendment would have been to eliminate the requirement that a person who is a member of the Communist Party who wished to visit the United States temporarilyand most such visitors axe naturally from Communist countrieswould go through the cumbersome procedure of obtaining a "waiver of inadmissibility." My amendment would have thus simplified visa procedures rather than alter them substantially. And the simplification of visa procedures would have saved the U.S. Government a considerable amount of money as we now devote a ridiculous number of manhours to processing waivers that are almost always granted. The Department of State fully supported my amendment.