Speech #960255233

So again the complexity of this whole question increases. One of the difficulties with this amendment. of course. is what it does to the situation in which we now find ourselves. If it would require that we would immediately suspend all current immigration. refugees. families. normal quotas. I think that would give us real pause because one area of great concern is. of course. immigration from eastern Europe and from the Soviet Union. people whose lives are so constricted that they cannot practice religious freedom. they do not have normal civil rights and civil liberties. They are refugees in the classic political sense of the word. Therefore. we must protect. for example. the right of Soviet Jewry to have some escape valve. some place to go. some refuge where freedom still exists. What I am saying in summary is this: The Senator from Kentucky has brought to the attention of the Senate a subject that we cannot escape. that we are going to have to confront. It is a subject of enormous complexity. I would take this opportunity of saluting the reference Dr. Theodore Hesburgh. president of Notre Dame University. who has accepted the very heavy responsibility of being Chairman of the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy. The Senator from Arizona. the manager of the bill. the Senator from Massachusetts. the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. the Senator from Wyoming