Chairman. I rise in strong support of H.R. 981. We began the important job of immigration reform in 1965. and it is of critical importance that we continue with it at this time. The legislation before us today is the result of a thorough study specifically addressed to the unresolved immigration problem of the Western Hemisphere. That problem is caused by a numerical ceiling of 120.000 persons a year for the Western Hemisphere without any reasonable mechanics for the selection of immigrants. The State Department reports a backlog under that ceiling of close to 200.000 active cases as of January 1. 1973. Further. and most importantly. there is no system of priorities regarding admittance. We have. in effect. two immigration laws for the two hemispheres. We place top priority on reuniting families from Eastern Hemisphere countries. but we make no such distinction for the Western Hemisphere. Since the current demand for Western Hemisphere visas far exceeds the number of visas available. the result is a 2year waiting period equally applicable to the wives and children of permanent resident aliens. livein maids. surgeons. brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens. clerical workers. unmarried. and married children over 21 of U.S. citizens. Under the provisions regulating Eastern Hemisphere immigration. these various intending immigrants are all assigned priorities according to the sevencategory preference system. Within certain numerical restrictions. the preference category determines the order in which they enter. In the Western Hemisphere. however. the visas are distributed almost entirely on a firstcome. firstserved basis. with certain relatives exempt from labor certification. We have had two different immigration laws for the two hemispheres since enactment of legislation restricting immigration from the Eastern Hemisphere in the 1920s. At the time the national origins quota system was adopted on a temporary basis in 1921 and permanently in 1924. immigration levels from this hemisphere were so low that numerical restriction was felt to be unnecessary. Western Hemisphere immigration continued to be numerically unrestricted until July 1. 1968. when the 120.000 ceiling went into effect as a result of the farreaching 1965 amendments which finally abolished the national origins quota system. This system was undisguisedly based on the assumption that immigrants from some countries were more desirable than those from other countries. To illustrate its effects in 1964. Great Britain used less than half of her nontransferrable annual allotment of 65.361 visas while there was a waiting list of nearly a quarter of a million applicants for the annual Italian quota of 5.666 visas. Understandably. abolition of the National Origins Quota System was our primary purpose in 1965. and this fact in large part accounts for the inadequate attention given at the time to the actual mechanics of visa disribution under the Wesern Hemisphere ceiling. As my colleagues who were here at the time will recall. the ceiling itself was the subject of considerable controversy. The House narrowly rejected it. and It was subsequently incorporated in the bill as the result of an amendment adopted in the Senate. However. it was not fully integrated into the basic design of the Immigration and Nationality Act since it failed to provide for an adequate mechanism for selecting immigrants from the Western Hemisphere. The primary purpose of H.R. 981 is to remedy this serious defect in our immigration laws. HR-. 981 extends the preference system currently in effect for the Eastern Hemisphere to the Western Hemisphere. The only change made is the amendment of the definition of those eligible for seventh preference refugee status. The number of immigrants eligible for entry remains the same. with retention of the separate ceilings of 170.000 on the Eastern Hemisphere and 120.000 on the Western Hemisphere. During the hearings in 1965 on immigration legislation. I envisaged a threestep legislative program beginning with the repeal of the national origins concept for selecting immigrants. then developig experience with a preference system foir the Western Hemisphere and culminating in a worldwide ceiling. Today. we consider this second step in perfecting a fair and equitable policy. Our ultimate goal is a unified worldwide ceiling and some further perfection of the preference system. as well as modification of the labor certification program. However. as I noted in my testimony on H.R. 981 last March. elimination of the present inequitable treatment of the Western Hemisphere is so pressing a need that other legislative aims must take second place. In view of the hardships we are unintentionally causing wouldbe immigrants from the Western Hemisphere. and the adverse diplomatic effects of the increasingly deteriorating situation. we have concluded that immigration reform must be a twostep operation. with the first step embodied in the bill before us today. I am referring. of course. to the immediate extension of the Eastern Hemisphere preference system with its emphasis on family reunification to the Western Hemisphere. Enactment of the refugee measures in H.R. 981. is also a matter of some urgency. particularly in view of the uncertainty of the Attorney Generals present parole authority. Until 1965. we had never devised an adequate permanent means of dealing with the admission of refugees. The enactment of the revised preference systemwith the seventh preference for refugeeswas a major step forward. but unfortunately it proved to be less than adequate. This fact became particularly evident in 1968. when many Czechs became refugees because of the Russian invasion of their country and we were unable to grant refugee status because the numbers allocated under the seventh preference had been exhausted. It was at that time that the members of the Judiciary Committee joined together to request the Attorney General to exercise his general parole authority so that we could offer asylum to the Czech refugees. More recently. I found it necesary to go to the Secretary of State. as well as the Attorney General. to seek the use of parole in behalf of the Soviet Jews who were fortunate enough to be able to leave the Soviet Union.
Identified stereotypes
Immigrants from some countries are more desirable than those from other countries.