Speech #900282200

Mr. Speaker. in President Johnsons state of the Union message. Congress was called upon to revise this countrys immigration laws and enact new legislation. "based on the work a man can do and not where he was born or how he spells his name." We responded by passing the Immigration Act of 1965. which eliminated a quota system dating back to 1924. and replaced it with a system based on family ties to U.S. citizens and residents. special labor skills. and the need for asylum because of persecution or natural disaster. This law. which was passed by overwhelming majorities in both the House and Senate. has had. however. several unexpected and unfortunate consequences. Immigration from certain countries. notably Ireland. has fallen off precipitously. Under the 1924 Immigration Act. and the 1952 McCarranWalter revisions. Ireland had an annual quota of 17.756. of which an average of 10.000 places were never used. The 1965 act. though. abolished this quota and substituted a preference system. whereby prospective immigrants have to have a close relative living in the United States. Irish immigrants traditionally have been young and unmarriedrarely does an entire Irish family emigrate to the United States. Because the 1965 act favors nations from which whole families wish to emigrate--such as Italyit operates inadvertently but unfairly against a country like Ireland. More importantly. the new immigration law required persons wishing to enter this country in order to work to receive certification from the Secretary of Labor that there were insufficient Americans "able. willing. qualified. and available" to fill the position sought by the immigrant. Hardest hit. of course. among citizens of the former "privileged nations" of Germany. Great Britain. and Ireland. were the unskilled. who made up the bulk of Irishmen wishing to come here. In the first 16 months under the 1965 Immigration Act. only 11 Irishmen qualified for visas as professionals or as needed skilled workers. The impact of the new Immigration Act can best be seen by the fact that Irish immigration to the United States has dropped from 5.463 in 1965 to 1.991 in 1967. even though the State Department had assured Congress in 1965 that Irish immigration would continue to be about 5.200 per year. Unless we act. Irish immigration in the upcoming year will drop even lower. The bill I am introducing today will correct this problem by providing a floor. equal to 75 percent of the average immigration totals for the 10year base period 1956 to 1965. below which no Nations immigration total can sink. If. for example. during the base period a country sent an average of 10.000 immigrants a year to the United States. this bill would allow an immigration total of no lower than 7.500. provided. of course. there was sufficient demand. In the case of Ireland. the number would be about 5.300which would mean about 4.000 new openings. The total effect of this bill would be slight. It would allow at most for the entry of 30.000 more immigrants in a total immigrant population of over 300.000. The effect on the labor force would also be insignificant. since 2 million nativeborn Americans are added to the employment rolls every year. For the 30.000 persons who would be enabled to come to the United States. though. the effect would be far from slight.