Speech #900237398

Mr. Speaker. the disclosure that immigration from Ireland has been adversely affected by our new immigration law came as a real disappointment to me. and I was only too happy to introduce remedial legislation to do away with the inequities. Any law that practically shuts off immigration from one of our ancestral nations is a shortsighted law. The contribution of the Irish to modernday America is almost legendary. and I believe that to choke off further immigration from the Emerald Isle would be to deprive the United States of some of her basic strength. Especially in New England are we aware of what the Irish have meant to America. Already there are third and fourth generation descendants of the great wave of Irish immigrants of the 19th century living today in New England. and from their midst have come Senators. Congressman. Governors and. yes. even a great President. Frankly speaking. we in Massachusetts are completely opposed to any legislation that would reduce Irish immigration which would be the result if the current law stands. The governing law is the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. which was designed to remove inequities that had long existed in the U.S. immigration laws and policies. Basically. it abolished the longstanding national origins quota system by which the residents of certain favored nations were granted preference in admittance to the United States. Prospective immigrants from Portugal. as an example. benefited greatly from the passage of the 1965 act. While I was not a Member of the Congress at that time. I would have voted for the law. had I been here. It is basically a good law. but should have been more carefully drafted to avoid just the situation which has accurred in relationship to Ireland. Unfortunately. an unintentional result of the 1965 act was an almost complete cessation of immigration from northern and western Europe. Ireland. with an annual quota of 17.756 persons. found herself sending fewer than 2.000 to the United States in 1967. Mainly. this comparative trickle of newcomers from Ireland came about because the 1965 act. in declaring the national origins quotas to be unfair. required that future immigration should be based on two principles: the reuniting of families and the attraction of immigrants with needed skills. Albeit the 1965 act provides that no reductions in the old quota are to take place until July 1. 1968. prospective new arrivals must meet the other requirements of the act. For example. they must have close relatives in the United States. or be able to meet exacting labor certification requirements. This sociological bias of the 1965 act favors immigrants from countries from which entire families wish to emigrate. When the 1965 act becomes fully effective 2 months from now. immigration from the 13 countries involved will decline even further. In addition to Ireland they include Belgium. Czechoslovakia.