Speech #920194591

Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of H.R. 9615. a successor bill to the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act which I cosponsored. This is an emergency immigration measure devised to correct unforeseen injustices in the 1965 act. As a result of these inequities there has been an increase in the backlog of fifth preference applicantsbrothers and sisters of U.S. citizensfrom Italy as well as a drastic decline of immigration from Ireland. This bill. which is endorsed by the American Committee on Italian Migration and the American Irish National Immigration Committee. is the culmination of years of work to arrive at a solution to the unanticipated effects of the 1965 act. H.R. 9615 provides for the issuance of special immigrant visas for brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens. from any country whose registrations were pending on July 1. 1964. who qualify as fifth preference immigrants under section 203(a) (5) of the Immigration Act of 1965 and for whom petitions have been filed with the Attorney General prior to July 1. 1971. According to the Visa Office of the State Department. the total Italian fifth preference registration as of July 1. 1971. is 86.054. The visa office also advises that 64.000 of these have been reached by the American Consulates as of January 25. 1972. On that date. in fact. the cutoff date for Italian fifth preference was March 1. 1970. The "live" Italian backlog. therefore. is about 22.000.