Speech #910266009

August 12 to join with Congressmen MCCULLOCH. MESKILL. DENNIS. and MAYNE in introducing an omnibus immigration and nationality bill drafted by the executive branch. This bill would make a number of amendments to our immigration and nationality laws. some of them technical in nature. but many of substance. I shall not attempt to restate all of the provisions of this major bill. I believe. that a summary of some of the more important proposals will. however. serve to highlight the practicality that infuses this legislation. The present system of immigration from the Eastern Hemisphere. with its system of preferences which the Congress enacted in 1965. has worked well since it came into effect. However. there have been certain areas in which the system did not provide adequately for the legitimate demand which arose. In particular. demand for entry into the United States by professionals. needed workers and refugees has been heavier than can be accommodated under the present law. While it is not desirable. or even possible. to reconcile and satisfy all demand for immigration. it does appear that these legitimate demands call for adjustment of the Eastern Hemisphere preference system at this time. First. the bill reapportions allowable immigration within the several preference classes so that additional visa numbers will be available to the badly oversubscribed third-. sixth-. and seventhpreference classes. Minor changes are also made in the definition of two of the preference classes. one of which will accord second preference classification to the parents of adult permanent residents. and the other which would limit eligibility for fifth preference status in the future to unmarried brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens. A savings clause would. of course. preserve fifth preference status for those married brothers and sisters to whom this classification has already been accorded. In view of the fact that there are still changes emerging in the pattern of immigration. both in a geographic sense and with respect to types of demand. the bill wisely refrains from more drastic revision in the selection system at this time. Next. the bill proposes to change the Western Hemisphere immigration picture in several ways. In the Western Hemisphere. the demand for immigrant visas has far exceeded the 120.000 limitation imposed by the Congress which took effect on July 1. 1968. This phenomenon has had a number of undesirable effects. including a drastic drop in immigration