Speech #930031620

Mr. Speaker. today I am introducing legislation which amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to make visas more accessible to immigrants from the Eastern Hemisphere. Nations most directly affected would be Germany. Great Britain. Ireland. and Poland. The purpose of this bill is to correct an inequity which has existed since the enactment of the 1965 amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act. The amendments of October 3. 1965. repealed the national origins quota concept as the system for admitting immigrants to the United States and substituted for it a onefigure ceiling on all Eastern Hemisphere immigration. This simply means that visas no longer would be allocated separately for each country of origin but that they would now be handled en masse for the Eastern Hemisphere on a firstcome. firstserved basis. While the 1965 bill headed us toward a more just immigration policy. it did not complete the work because the Congress at that time dropped provisions in the committeeapproved bill which would have insured that no former mostfavored nation would suffer undue hardships during the transition period. These provisions included a 5year phaseout period with a "pooling" of unused quota numbers to be reallocated in future years and Presidential authorization to reserve up to 10 percent for refugees and up to 30 percent for national security problems from the enlarged quota. The transition period was cut to 3 years. while the Presidential authority was deleted from the 1965 measure entirely. Once enacted. severe repercussions became evident. Following the 3year phaseout. which ended in 1968. backlogs in some countries oversubscribed preferences remained. This means that there were more people who wanted visas than were able to obtain them. In former high quota nations. such as Ireland. this problem was acute. Immigration. here and elsewhere. was stopped to a mere trickle. This bill provides the means to correct this situation. It will add 7.500 visas a year from each of these individual nations or 75 percent of their 195565 average of total immigrant visas issuedwhichever is higher. Actual demand is not expected to exceed 35.000 immigrants a year from the Eastern Hemisphere. In fiscal year 1971. approximately 73.000 immigrants from the Eastern Hemisphere were admitted to the United States. This legislation would suspend the labor certification requirement for 4 years. Although this would allow entry of persons who do not have jobs waiting for them. they must still be able to meet the qualification of guaranteeing economic stability. thus assuring that they will not become public charges.