Speech #910019029

Mr. Speaker. on the opening day of this Congress. I proudly joined with the distinguished gentleman from New York and 23 of of our distinguished colleagues in cosponsoring H.R. 165. a bill which would. in effect. put an end to the outright discrimination which was an unintentional result of the Immigration Act of 1965. Today. I again rise in support of this proposed legislation. The purpose of the 1965 act was to eliminate the discriminatory features of the old law. which was established on the basis of a 40yearold national origins quota system. a system whereby the number of visas available to each country was based on the national origins of the American population as determined by the 1920 census. This system was unwieldy and totally unresponsive to the present day immigration needs of our country. Under it. Great Britain. for example. had used less than half her annual quota. while Italy had a waiting list of several hundred thousand prospective immigrants. While unquestionably the act erased many other inequities and contributed to a more just form of immigration in the sense of reuniting families and attracting immigrants with needed skills. at the same time. by requiring a labor certificate. it inadvertently set up a barrier against many nations. Specifically. prospective immigrants from Ireland have been adversely affected by the 1965 act. Under one section of the existing act. immigrants may be accepted for permanent residence if their skilled and unskilled jobs are in short supply. and in great demand. When the act was passed. it was the intent of Congress that the Labor Department set up broad categories of acceptable and unacceptable skills. Instead. the Department has interpreted the act to make each individual prove his right to enter the United States. As a result. many wouldbe immigrants who could become good productive citizens are discouraged from coming to the United States. H.R. 165 would make additional visas available to nationals of countries where the average has sharply declined as a result of the inequitous provisions of the 1965 act. The bill would establish a floor for the number of visas available to any given country. This is the only way left open to us to avoid further discrimination and injustice. The legislation would particularly assist the Irish. Since from July 1968 to December 31. 1968. only 32 preference and nonpreference visas were issued to Irish applicants. Even if we included the categories of immediate relative and special immigration the total of visas issued in Dublin was only 227. This compares to the 195665 yearly average of 7.000 Irish immigrants. The typical Irish immigrant now is an unmarried. relatively unskilled young man who wants to come to America to better his economic situation. This is exactly the type of immigrant against whom the 1965 amendments discriminate. Mr. Speaker.