Speech #920194541

Mr. Charles Gordon. General Counsel of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. testified before our Immigration Subcommittee on August 6. 1970. and he said: Third. we support modification of the fifth preference to limit it to the unmarried brothers and sisters of a U.S. citizen. if the citizen is at least 21 years of age. The fifth preference is Intended to promote family unity. and it seems correct to conclude that in granting a preference to married brothers and sisters. the present law is not actually unifying families. but in many cases is sanctioning the entry of new families. It is an appropriate time to take this matter up because in this bill. out of the goodness of our hearts. out of the desire to correct an inequity. and not through any legal compulsion. we are attempting to clear up the fifth preference backlog. As I pointed out a minute ago. we have already done that three times before with special legislatibn. We do not provide enough extra visas at this time in this bill to clear up the backlog. It seems quite reasonable. particularly when it is in consonance with the purpose of the immigration statute. to tackle this particular problem--to take a modest action to try to prevent this backlog from accumulating again. Now. all of the basic overhauls of the immigration laws which have been proposed. inclading that offered by my friend from New Jersey . include this provision. but they say it should await a general overhaul of the law. I say if we are going to pass such backlog clean up legislation. there is no reason why this correction I propose should wait. This is such a reasonable amendment that the Judiciary Committee adopted it in the first instance. but reversed itself due to the persuasive powers of my friend from New Jersey. I submit to this House that this Is a better bill. a more equitable bill. and a bill which ought to appeal more to the membership of this body if this amendment is adopted. so that we would not only correct existing inequities but would also do something about preventing them from accumulating in the future. I point out. again. that the amendment in no way decreases the extra visas provided by this legislation and it in no way affects the overall basic country ceilings existing in the present law. It simply defines the limits and extent. in a reasonable way and for the future. of the fifth preference.