Speech #920194528

Mr. Chairman. as a cosponsor of legislation authorizing the availability of additional visa numbers of those countries from which average immigration has significantly declined as a result of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act. I am very pleased to rise in support of the measure we are considering this afternoon. The 1965 act marked an important milestone in U.S. immigration policy. This measure abolished the archaic and highly discriminatory national origins quota system and was a major contribution toward returning this country to a more humane and meaningful manner of selecting persons allowed to emigrate to our shores. Although the 1965 act removed many gross inequities and represented the first major overhaul of the immigration law in over 40 years. there are still many loopholes which must be filled and a number of inequities and inadequacies which must be corrected. I believe H.R. 9615 will be most important in providing essential relief by temporarily removing certain biased portions of our immigration law. When President Johnson called upon the Congress to revise the immigration laws he requested that the transition or phaseout period from the national origins quota system be 5 years. Unfortunately. the Congress only provided for a 3year period and this has worked an exceptional hardship on a number of countries. including some Eastern Hemisphere nations. such as Ireland. which had traditionally been large sources of immigrants. In attempting to achieve equality for those countries which had previously suffered various forms of discrimination. the new law subsequently proved to discriminate against others by drastically curtailing the level of immigration. The formula contained in H.R. 9615 establishes a floor under immigration and makes special immigrant visas available to each Eastern Hemisphere country equal to threequarters of the 10 year. 195565. average. minus the number of visas issued in the preceding year. This temporary 4year provision will assure that every country will be permitted to compete justly and equitably for visas. It should also remove current backlogs and restore a proper balance in the issuance of visas. One of the primary aims of the 1965 act was to reunite families and. generally. it has facilitated bringing families together. However. the fifth preference position for Italy has long been oversubscribed and the brothers and sisters of American citizens have been forced to wait for countless years.