Speech #930120727

I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. the primary and overriding purpose of H.R. 981 is to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act in order to provide for equal and uniform treatment of all countries. The Congress began this important task in 1965 with the abolition of the national origins quota system. and I am pleased to move on with it today. H.R. 981 is a matter of some urgency because of the increasingly deteriorating situation in the Western Hemisphere. According to the State Department. visas are available for September issuance to applicants from the Western Hemisphere who applied almost 2 years ago. before October 15. 1972. This applies to Canada and Mexico. as well as to the other countries in the Americas. Because of the absence of a Western Hemisphere preference system. all immigrants subject to numerical limitation must wait this 2year period. regardless of their relation to U.S. citizens or to permanent resident aliens. This very difficult situation is made worse by the sharp contrast with the Eastern Hemisphere. As of September 1973. visas are immediately available for the relative preferences for all independent countries under the Eastern Hemisphere ceiling with the one exception of the Philippines. What this means is that the Italian brother of a U.S. citizen may enter the country immediately. while his Canadian counterpart must wait 2 years. In addition to causing considerable unnecessary hardship for wouldbe immigrants. not surprisingly this inequitable situation is having an increasingly adverse effect on our foreign relations in this hemisphere. This Is particularly true of Canada. where Immigration has fallen from 38.327 in fiscal year 1965 to 10.776 in fiscal year 1972. If I may briefly review the salient features of the immigration law. the Eastern Hemisphere is limited to 170.000 visas a year. with a 20.000 per country limit. Only two countries. Italy and the Philippines. are approaching that number. Within these two numerical restrictions. the visas are distributed according to a sevencategory preference system which gives priority to reuniting families. attracting aliens with needed skills. and admitting refugees. in that order. At present. as I have noted. the relative preferencesfirst. second. fourth. and fifth--are current for all independent countries except the Philippines. Third preference. the professional occupational category. has about a 7month waiting period. again for all independent countries except the Philippines. The nonprofessional occupational category. sixth preference. is current for all independent countries except Italy and the Philippines. In short. at least as measured in terms of the presence or absence of accumulating backlogs. the system is working comparatively well. The Western Hemisphere. consisting of the Americas and the adjacent islands. is restricted to 120.000 visas a year for independent countries. a proportionately higher allotment than the 170.000 ceiling on the much larger Eastern Hemisphere. However. unlike the Eastern Hemisphere. Western Hemisphere immigration proceeds almost entirely on a firstcome. firstserved basis with no percountry limit and. most importantly. no preference system. As you know. the ceiling on Western Hemisphere immigration went into effect on July 1. 1968 as a result of the 1965 amendments. Prior to that time. immigration from this hemisphere was numerically unrestricted. H.R. 981 amends the Immigration and Nationality Act by extending provision for both the sevencategory preference system and the 20.000 per country limit to the Western Hemisphere. The two ceilings are retained at their present levels. The Committee has been cognizant throughout its consideration of this legislation of the recommendation made by the Commission on Population Growth and the American Future that "immigration levels not be increased" at this time. We are attempting to implement this recommendation. In this regard.