Mr. Chairman. I rise In support of H.R. 9615 to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. This legislation is based on a bill which I cosponsored in order to correct inequities in connection with the decline of immigration from Ireland and to reduce the backlog of fifth preference applicants from Italy who are brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens. When I cosponsored this legislation in its original form. I did so because of the unanticipated results of the 1965 amendments to the immigration law and the affect of those amendments on immigration from Ireland. Italy. Germany. Poland. Great Britain and Scandinavian countries. This bill while a compromise version of the original provides needed relief from the unexpected results of those changes by placing a floor under immigration. The floor is based upon 75 percent of the number of visas issued during the base period of 1956 through 1965. Under the new formula authorized by this legislation. Ireland will receive at least 5.389 visas as contrasted with the actual number of 1.297 issued in fiscal year 1971. In addition to the impact of the bill upon immigration from Ireland the legislation will have an important effect upon the backlog of applications from Italy. The current backlog from Italy in the fifth preference category is more than 88.000. The proposed changes will make available 7.170 visas each year for 4 years to applicants from Italy. This is particularly important because these applicants are brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens and the change will carry out the intent of Congress expressed in the 1965 amendments. of reunification of families. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 9615 and to vote against any amendments to this bill which might present obstacles to the reunification of families by applying the new change only to unmarried brothers and sisters.
Keywords matched
Immigration immigration visas