Speech #900288992

Mr. Speaker. I have Introduced H.R. 18620. a bill to guarantee that natives of Ireland and all other countries begin the first year of our firstcome. firstserved immigration policy with an equal opportunity to qualify for admission to the United States. Experience with the 1965 act has shown that there are areas of difficulty and certain results which were not forseen and which could not. on the basis of the information available in 1965. have been anticipated. The Irish. for example. will have little opportunity for admission during the next 2 years because of the carryover of heavy backlogs from other countries. My bill is designed to take care of these short run. temporary dislocations in the pattern of immigration. The 1965 act provided that the changeover from the national origins quota system to a firstcome. firstserved basis would be a gradual. phaseout process. Countries with historically low quotas were permitted to use the unused immigrant visa numbers not currently needed by the countries with large quotas. These extra visa numbers. while not enlarging the maximum permitted admissions of 170.000 per year from the Eastern Hemisphere. enabled many countries such as Italy. Greece. Portugal. China. the Philippines. and India to send immigrants to the United States immediately in numbers far In excess of their old quotas. This temporary immigration pool satisfied practically all the previously backlogged immigration demand. but the new demand developed after 1965 far exceeded the estimates provided to us by the Department of State. The unforeseen and paradoxical result is that on July 1. 1968. when the firstcome. firstserved system became effective. the waiting lists are almost exclusively made up of natives from the oversubscribed previously restricted nations and represent a 2- to 3year allotment. That is. for the next 2 or 3 years there will be very few visa numbers available to natives from Ireland and other northern European countries who only now have a reason to get on the waiting list. Members of Congress have been particularly concerned with respect to the Irish. whom it is said are discriminated against by the temporary and unanticipated results of the manner in which the transitional features of the 1965 act have been administered. The Immigration Subcommittee has also been approached by representatives of American. corporations with foreign branches. hospitals. colleges. and universities which are seriously threatened by the prospect of a 2- or 3year wait before urgently needed executives. teachers. scientists. doctors. engineers. and technicians can be admitted. Religious organizations are also complaining that it will be impossible to secure prompt admission of teachers. nuns. brothers. sisters. missionaries. and other necessary fulltime religious workers because of the same temporary situation resulting from the unanticipated manner in which the transition provisions of the 1965 act have worked out. My bill will correct this unfortunate situation by providing for natives of Ireland and other disadvantaged countries a pool of visas for immediate issuance. The pool will consist of approximately 69.000 visa numbers left unused by those same disadvantaged countries during the last fiscal year. The numbers those nations did not need in fiscal 1968 will now be made available for those same countries so that the intending immigrants can qualify promptly for visas rather than waiting 2 or 3 years. The visas from the pool will be allocated on a firstcome. firstserved basisnot on a per country basisto natives of any European country which did not use all its quota numbers in fiscal 1968. These are the disadvantaged individuals who. without this legislation. are at the end of the registration lists. There are the Irish.