Speech #920194468

Poland. the Scandinavian countries. the Netherlands. Czechoslovakia. and the Russians. if they let them in. I point out to the committee that these are all northern European people. or most of them are northern European people. from the stocks which have formed in the past a great part of the immigrants to this country. stock from which many of us have sprung. people who have rather readily been assimilated. and who have made good citizens of this country. The second part of the bill seeks to correct another situation which is thought to present some inequity. and it doesthis. again. over a 4year period. It makes available to qualified immigrants from any foreign country additional special visas equal to 25 percent of the fourth preference. which we now call the fifth preference. registration for that state which was pending on July 1. 1964. Now. that fifth preference is given to brothers and sisters of American citizens. We have a large potential backlog in some cases. The State Department estimates that. although they might not all ask for it. there probably are potentially 190.000 or 200.000 people who would be qualified under the fifth preference as brothers and sisters of American citizens but who were never able to be reached. or to come here. because the overall limitations or ceilings from these countries were exhausted before they were reached. We have no legal obligation to clear up this backlog. but it is thought to be an equitable thing to do. The second part of this bill provides for these additional visas. in number equal to 25 percent of such registrations as were pending on July 1. 1964. again over a 4year period. The chief beneficiaries of this part of the bill are the Italians. with the Greeks second. and after that I think the Portuguese and the Polish. Under the first section of the bill. the part which deals basically with the northern European countries. it is estimated we would have something around 30.000 to 32.000 additional visas the first year. And for those 4 years there will be about 30.000 per year. you cannot be sure about it. but for the 4 years you will get about 120.000 additionally under the first part of the bill. Under the second part of the bill. the socalled Italian part. you get about 10.000 a year for the 4 years. or about 40.000 people. So altogether you get about 160.000 additional immigrants. 120.000 of whom will come under the first section. the northern European section. approximately 40.000 of whom will come under the second section. That is assuming that those visas which will be available are actually picked up. And out of that 40.000 approximately 28.000 would be Italians. That is what the bill does. basically.