Speech #920194520

The law was amended in 1965 to provide for equal treatment of aliens of oriental ancestry. They are now charged to their country of birth. In 1965. we rightfully deplored a discriminatory law that restricted immigration from certain countries on the grounds that some foreigners are more foreign than others because their ancestors had not been here in large numbers in 1920. Since the provisions of the 1965 act have been in effect. it has become increasingly apparent that we are now faced with a curious turnabout. The bill before us today represents an effort to check the drastic reduction in immigration from the countries that helped to build America. According to the figures recently released by the Department of State. IreOXVIII- 547Part 7 land received 1.077 immigrant visas in fiscal 1971. Irish immigration in fiscal 1966. just after enactment of the 1965 amendments. fell from 5.378 to little over 3.000. When the 1965 amendments went into full effect in fiscal 1969. it dropped again to 1.208. Following this downward trend. Irish immigration should fall below 1.000 during the current fiscal year. And the pattern I have described for Irelands has been repeated for other formerly highly favored nations. most notably Germany and Great Britain. Mr. Chairman. the discrimination decried in the national origins quota system was a matter of policy and politics. The system became a permanent part of our law in 1924. despite the objections of many of our colleagues. among them the distinguished chairman of the Judiciary Committee. the Honorable EMANUEL CELLER. The discrimination in our immigration laws today is. fortunately. inadvertent. making it considerably easier to correct. It was certainly not our intention to reduce immigration from Ireland and other countries in northern and western Europe dramatically. This has been an unforeseen and unexpected result of the 1965 amendments. From the vantage point of hindsight. the decrease in Irish immigration appears to be largely the result of the new preference systema system that emphasizes the reunification of familiesand of the stricter labor certification requirements. As I said in comments on a similar bill in 1969: The Irish fall through the sevencategory preference system like water through a sieve. The categories are not applicable to most Irishmen who want to come to America today. John P. Collins. chairman of the American Irish National Immigration Committee. discussed this before Subcommittee No. 1 of the House Judiciary Committee in 1969: Irelands immigrants to the United States have traditionally been of the nonpreference. unskilled variety. Had the present law been in effect some years ago. many of the Members of Congress would not be present in the United States today. Analyzing Irish families. one finds that a few brothers and sisters from the family emigrate. while others remain at home. The mother and father remain at home. The Irish emigrant is generally young. unmarried. and hence brings no spouse or children. It is the rare case in recent times when a whole Irish family emigrates to the United States. Thus. Irelands sociological pattern of immigration does not permit it to compete equally with some other nationalities for family preference. I would like to add that the inapplicability of the family reunification categories to the Irish is also the result of the fact that most Irish families here were reunited many. many years ago. The Irish came to this country in great numbers earlier in this centurydoes this make them ineligible for entry now? The answer at the present appears to be. yes. it does.