Speech #930087629

Mr. President. I am today introducing legislation to eliminate several unfair practices which have developed subsequent to the enactment of certain amendments in 1965 to the Immigration and Nationality Act. My bill would provide for additional special immigrant visas. on an annual basis. to each country of the Eastern Hemisphere. and would trim the backlog in visa issuance in the socalled fifth preference categorybrothers and sisters of U.S. citizens. Very simply. the old system for selecting immigrants to the United States was based on a national origins quota concept. Legislation passed by the Congress replaced that system with an overall ceiling on a firstcome. firstserved basis. within various preference categories. However. during the phaseout period of the old system. the backlogs in some oversubscribed preferences were not removed. Furthermore. immigration from the former high quota countries was adversely affected. Immigration. particularly from Ireland. was cut back severely while the "brothers and sisters" backlog particularly from Italy was reduced by a very small amount. The bill I am introducing today. restores to these countries the immigration benefits originally intended for them. One purpose of the bill is to facilitate the immigration of aliens chargeable to the beneficiary countries who would not otherwise qualify for immigration or who would experience a delay in obtaining an immigrant visa because of the oversubscription of the Eastern Hemisphere preference classification to which they were entitled. The special visas granted would primarily benefit Germany. Great Britain. Ireland. and Poland. A second purpose of the bill is to reduce the backlog in the "brothers and sisters" preference. The old national origins systems provided disproportionate national quotas. to govern the admission of immigrants. without regard to the reunification of families. In the transition to the new system. some countries. particularly Italy. were discriminated against. Under my bill. the special visas issued would benefit Italy. Greece. Poland. and Portugal. Mr. President. it seems to me that if we are to continue our immigration and nationality program. we ought to make it fair and equitable. especially for the countries. such as Ireland and Italy. which have been adversely affected. I am hopeful that this new legislation will move us closer to that goal. By Mr.