Speaker. I am introducing a bill. H.R. 2522. which seeks to provide Federal assistance to States and cities with significant numbers of newly arrived immigrants. Since the Federal Government sets immigration law and policies. I believe that it should acknowledge the markedly uneven pattern of immigrant settlement and the resulting strains upon certain "gateway" cities and States. Gateway localities presently bear a disproportionate share of the burden without any special governmental assistance being provided. Immigrants have great difficulty in being readily assimilated into our way of doing things. We must. therefore. provide programs specifically designed to ease this process and to enable them to become more quickly and easily a part of our society. We are nearly all products of the courage and daring of firstgeneration immigrants. Yet that same generation which sacrificed so much to come to the United States has been least rewarded. Once in America these immigrants initiative was often crushed by poor language skills. cultural insecurity. and untapped talent and unfulfilled potential. Every human being has a worth which is unique and special. When we invite a new immigrant to come to live in America. let us not merely celebrate it by our own selfrighteousness. but truly make it possible for this person to become one of us. It cannot be a good policy to waste a human life. because he or she is unlike us in speech. dress. manner. and cultural background. So. for the good of our Nation as well as for the good of the individual immigrant. we need an innovative. flexible. and dynamic followthrough to our immigration policies. We need to ease the trauma of transition from one society to another. we need to maximize human potential. Assistance in language. communication skills. cultural orientation. and onthejob training opportunities for these new arrivals are investments in our own future. Immigrants are all highly motivated or they surely would not have come. I am sponsoring this bill as a means of sustaining and fulfilling our national purpose as expressed in the inscription on our Statue of Liberty. My bill would provide Federal financial assistance to gateway cities and States with large numbers of foreignborn immigrants for establishing or providing through contracting agencies. programs and activities in the area of counseling. education. orientation. job training. and other similar programs. Funds. to be calculated on the basis of $1.000 per newly arrived immigrant per year. will be channeled directly to States and cities. The entitlement of each State for each fiscal year will be the number of dollars resulting from multiplying the number of immigrants who arrived in that State during the immediately preceding calendar year by $1.000. Entitlement for each gateway city will be subtracted from the States entitlement and will be the number of dollars resulting from multiplying the number of immigrants who arrived in that city in the immediately preceding calendar year by $1.000. For example if 3.000 immigrants arrived in Hawaii in the past calendar year the total amount of funds expected to be channeled to the State will be $3 million. If 2.000 of that number settle in Honolulu. the city and county of Honolulu would receive $2 million of the States $3 million. Presuming that there are no additional gateway cities in that State. the State of Hawaii would receive the remaining $1 million.
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Immigrants have great difficulty in being readily assimilated into our way of doing things.