Speech #900257612

Mr. Speaker. I am introducing today two bills to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 in order to remove inequities which have become apparent since the revised law was put into effect. The first bill. already introduced by Chairman CELLER and by Senator EDWARD KENNEDY In the other body. would perfect a number of reforms initiated in the 1965 legislation and would open the way for a general review of many of the policies now in operation. The bill would make a number of amendments to strengthen the objective of uniting families. which I have long believed to be one of the major purposes of our immigration policy. In particular. section 18 of the bill attempts to clean up the backlog in fifth preferencebrothers and sisters of U.S. citizensaccumulated under the old national origins quota system. The section provides for the issuance of special immigrant visas to applicants whose petition for admission was filed prior to December 1. 1965. the effective date of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. This provision is intended specifically to clear up the backlog under the fifthpreference Italian quota. There are currently over 100.000 approved fifthpreference petitions of Italian brothers and sisters on file. and it is estimated that issuance of visas for all these petitions would result in the entrance of some 250.000 to 300.000 relatives of American citizens of Italian extraction. Under the new worldwide quota system which goes into effect on July 1 of this year. visas will be issued to those whose petitions were filed first. with a numerical limitation of 20.000 per country. Thus. by clearing up this backlog of Italian petitions which have been on file for some time. section 18 will therefore make visa numbers available to nationals of other European countries under the fifth preference in the nearer future. The second bill. which has already been introduced in the House. would further benefit prospective immigrants from northern and western European countries which have already experienced an unintended decline in the number of immigrants able to enter the United States under the 1965 act. By emphasizing the immigration of entire families. the 1965 act has unintentionally resulted in a reduction in the number of other immigrants who may enter. and those affected have principally been from those European countries which have historically contributed so many immigrants to this land. One of the hardest hit nations has been Ireland. Irelands annual quota was 17.756. which It did not fully use. In average years about 7.000 Irish immigrated to the United States. Already. because of the labor certificates and other requirements of the 1965 act. immigration has dropped to 1.809 visas issued in Dublin in 1967. After July 1. 1968. it is estimated that only 500 to 1.000 Irish will be able to enter the United States yearly. Clearly. this was never the intention of the Congress. When the 1965 amendments were considered. the State Department estimated that Irish immigration would be about 5.200 annually. The bill I am introducingwhich would also benefit the Scandanavian countries. Great Britain. the Netherlands. Germany. Switzerland and otherswould permit immigration from these nations without returning to a quota system and without injury to those countries benefiting from the new law. The bill provides that any nation whose immigration has dropped below 75 percent of its yearly average during the 10year base period 195665 will be allotted additional places in excess of the worldwide quota to bring its total up to 75 percent of the base period average annual immigration. In no case would a single countrys immigrants exceed 10.000. and the bill further requires that 30 percent of the additional visas be made available to sixthpreference immigrantsskilled and unskilled laborers in short supply. It would be my hope that this provision will help to relieve the problems faced by many small businessmen who have been waiting for some time for the services of immigrants whose qualifications are in short supply in the United States. Under the bill. Ireland would be able to send about 5.300 immigrants and since the number of nations affected by the bill is small. it is estimated that the total number of additional visas would not exceed 20.000 to 30.000 above the worldwide quota. Mr. Speaker. I know that the Judiciary Committee has been considering a number of aspects of the 1965 Immigration Act and I would hope that these particular matters will receive the committees careful attention in the near future.