Speech #920194591

Chairman. the Dennis amendment would be contrary to one of the original purposes of the actthe reunification of families. I believe that this is an equitable bill. The legislation also provides that immigrants from previously undersubscribed countries. that is. Ireland. England. and so forth. would be allocated additional visas to the extent of 75 percent. less the numbers issued during the previous fiscal year. of the average number of visas available to these countries in the 10year period from 1955 to 1965. The visa numbers to be issued would not exceed 7.500 for any such foreign state. Mr. Chairman. the 1965 act has unwittingly produced a situation of disadvantage for formerly privileged countries. When the 1965 act was first formulated. a 5year phaseout period was contemplated in order to give the privileged countries a realistic opportunity to adjust to the new system. The phaseout period. instead. was reduced to 21/2 years. Consequently. immigration from Ireland. for example. has dwindled from an average of 5.000 before 1965 to little more than 1.000 at present. I believe this bill is also realistic. The total number of additional visas is 72.531. A temporary annual increase over 4 years of 18.000 immigrants can hardly be considered to threaten either the economic stability of the United States or the job security of the American worker. It must be pointed out that this figure of 18.000 includes spouses and minor children of the principal applicants. Therefore. a conservative estimate of the actual number of immigrants who will enter the labor market is approximately 9.000. In a total labor force of 86 million. an increase of 9.000 is minimal. Mr.