Speech #910014053

Speaker. I am introducing today a bill to facilitate the entry into the United States of aliens who are brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens. This legislation would affect any otherwise admissible alien who had filed a petition for a visa on the basis of this kinship with the Attorney General before July 1. 1966. Entry would be permitted under the "immediate relative" clause of our immigration law. withoutin the language of that legislation--"regard to the numerical limitations in this act." Immediate relatives now include spouses. minor children andas broadened by the 1965 amendments--parents of U.S. citizens. This bill. popularly referred to as the Italian Immigration Act. received support in both the House and Senate last year. It is a temporary measure. designed primarily to absorb the huge waiting lists of Italians who have been waiting for years to join their brothers and sisters in this country. And. may I add. it is a measure of some urgency. They wish to rejoin them in the flesh. not in wooden boxes. The existence of the long waiting list of Italians seeking visas in this category is directly attributable to the inequities of the national origins quota system. which Congress recognized in 1965 as both discriminatory and inefficient. and acted to abolish. Under this system. which had been in effect for more than 40 years. the number from each country which could enter the United States annually was based on the origins of the U.S. population at the time of the 1920 census. This meant that more than 70percent of the total annual quota from the nonWestern Hemisphere countries was allotted to Great Britain. Ireland. and Germany. It also meant that many allotted visa numbers went unused. since they were not redistributable. Great Britain in 1965 used less than half of Its allotted quota of 65.361. At the same time. countries with low quotas developed enormous waiting lists. Italy in 1965 had a waiting list of more than 200.000 in excess of its allotted quota of 5.666. The 1965 amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act were designed to correct the evils of this system. National origins has been replaced as the basis of entry by a sevenpoint preference system aimed first at reuniting families. and second. at attracting professional talent and needed skilled labor. Under this system. visas are distributed according to this sevenpoint order of preference categories. with a certain percentage of the total allotted to each category. They are available on a firstcome. firstserved basis. with no more than 20.000 for each country. and no more than 170.000 for all the nonWestern Hemisphere countries together. This system went into effect in July of 1968. It was preceded. as prescribed by the 1965 amendments. by a 21/2year transitional period during which unused numbers from each prior year were pooled and made available to oversubscribed countries in order to absorb the long waiting lists which these countries had built up. This mechanism generally accomplished its purpose. although here. in articles on this subject. there is always a parentheses: "(except for Italy)." For the Italians. the waiting list still remains. and because of it. Italian brothers and sisters receive little more equitable treatment under this new system designed allegedly to reunite families than they did under the old national origins quota system. The brothersandsisters preference category ranks fifth in the sevencategory system. behind unmarried children of U.S. citizens. spouses and unmarried children of permanent U.S. residents. professional and exceptional talent. and married children of U.S. citizens. This low point on the preference scale. combined with the long waiting list. means that the 20.000 national quota includes comparatively few brothers and sisters. To Illustrate. in February 1969this monthvisas are now being issued to Italians who filed on the basis of being brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens prior to January 1. 1958. For most other countries. visas in this category are currently available. In fiscal 1968. 5.979 Italians entered in the brotherandsister category. As of January 1. 1969. approximately 70.000 Italians were waiting for visas in this category. It is abundantly clear that the system is not working here. and that the reason for this is that the Italian waiting list in this category. huge before enactment of the 1965 amendments. was unabsorbed by the transitional pooling and is unabsorbable under the new system which admits. as fifth preference. a total of 40.800plus any unused numbers from higher categoriesbrothers and sisters for the entire nonWestern Hemisphere. The legislation which I am introducing would eliminate this waiting list. it would allow immediate entry to all otherwise admissible aliens who had filed prior to July 1. 1966. and it would then. as a result. permit the proper functioning on the intended firstcome. firstserved basis of the present system. a system intended primarily to reunite families. In brief. this legislation is intended to correct a technical malfunctioning of our complex immigration system. It is intended to implement the congressional intent of the 1965 amendments. And. most importantly. it is intended to allow my countrymen abroad to rejoin their brothers and their sisters in this country.