Speech #900329213

Mr. Speaker. I am particularly concerned. as are many other Members of Congress. about the difficulty experienced by Irish immigrants in securing visas to the United States. As a result of recent amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act. Irish immigration has been cut back to a trickle because Ireland is not in a position to compete with the rest of the world for immigrant visas. Hearings have been held by Subcommittee No. 1 of the Committee on the Judiciary to find a way to remove this handicap confronting Ireland and other countries of Northern Europe. The hearings have only reemphasized the fact that the labor certification provisions of the act of October 3. 1965. and the defective phaseout of the national origins system are the reasons for the curtailment of Irish immigration. On July 16. 1968. I introduced H.R. 18627 which offers a flexible formula to offer some measure of relief to natives of those countries who will not be able to receive immigrant visas due to the operation of therecent amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act. This legislation would permit the use of the visa numbers already authorized. but not used during fiscal year 1968. by allowing the President to reserve up to 50 percent of the unused numbers for use in alleviating the undue hardship caused by implementation of the recent amendments. Furthermore. this bill provides that the remainder of the numbers not reserved may be reallocated on a firstcome. firstserved basis to those preference categories which are presently oversubscribed. I feel that this legislation is timely. necessary. and will offer some measure of relief to the unfairness that has developed in our immigration laws. This legislation. in essence. will accomplish two objectives: First. permit Irish immigrants to continue to come to the United States during its proposed 2year operation. and. second. eliminate some of the backlog in the preference categories. thus permitting Ireland and other countries of Western Europe to compete favorably for visa numbers. In these closing days of the 90th Congress. I feel that It is most imperative that action be taken to provide visas to those countries which have traditionally given immigrants to the United States. I urge my colleagues to join with me in taking whatever steps may be necessary to have this remedial legislation enacted before the adjournment of the 90th Congress.