Chairman. I am pleased to rise in support of this legislation sponsored by my colleague on the Judiciary Committee. the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey . The Immigration and Nationality Act as amended in 1965 eliminated the same kind of inequities that this legislation is designed to rectify. The 1965 amendments repealed the national origins concept as a system for selecting immigrants. With a 3year phaseout. existing backlogs for immigrant visas or oversubscribed preferences were expected to be eliminated and a more equitable immigration system was anticipated. However. the 3year phaseout did not produce the desired results and we are now faced with a situation that is at least as inequitable as that which occurred prior to the 1965 amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act. H.R. 9615 corrects this problem and will allow the 1965 amendments to perform as originally hoped for. H.R. 9615 recognizes that the present backlogs in the fifth preference are a carryover of the backlog existing when the 1965 amendments went into effect.
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