Speech #970027628

Virgin Islanders for service overseas. Some of the new workers were brought in under one or another legal device improvised by the U.S. authorities. Others came without formal legal sanction and were employeduntil they were no longer needed for the war effort. at which time many were rounded up and deported. A similar situation emerged again in the years between 1950 and 1970. when migration to the U.S. islands was encouraged. this time not for defense projects but for the rapidly expanding tourist industry financed by mainland investors and for other related economic developments. The principal legal vehicle for this influx was a liberal administrative interpretation in 1956 of the terms "temporary services and labor" in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. Further complications arose with the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965. These latter amendments had the effect of increasing the influx of foreign temporary workers and somewhat paradoxically. at the same time preventing most of those workers from attaining permanent resident status. even 20 or more years later. And that is where we find ourselves today. Admittedly. what I have offered is an oversimplification. For an excellent analysis of the subject I have tried to condense. I refer you to a 1975 study of the Subcommittee on Immigration. Citizenship. and International Law of the House Committee on the Judiciary. The subcommittees opening words are still valid: The Virgin Islands of the United States is experiencing the most complex immigration problems facing the United States. Most of the problems are peculiar to the Virgin Islands and have stemmed from a U.S. immigration policy that has failed to recognize that the Virgin Islands are unique from the rest of the United States in terms of history. geography. economy and social structure. What the subcommittee said then continues to be true today. In the years since the 1975 study. there has been a lively dialog in the Virgin Islands about how these complexities could be untangled while protecting the interests of the citizens in the islands. the alien workers. and the Nation as a whole. H.R. 3517 was submitted in draft form to the Legislature of the Virgin Islands by Governor Juan Luis as a joint proposal by the Governor and the Virgin Islands Delegate to Congress. In his letter to the legislature dated March 20. 1981. the Governor stated: It is important to keep in mind in contemplating the provisions of the joint proposal that it is designed to provide a humane solution to the plight of several thousand nonimmigrant workers and their families who have resided in the Virgin Islands for as many as twenty years as victims of the restrictive quota system of the Immigration and Nationality Act which has prevented their attaining permanent residence status. The joint proposal is. at the same time. designed to provide as many safeguards as possible against not only immediate adverse population impacts of status adjustment on the delicate infrastructure of the Virgin Islands. but against secondary adverse population impacts when permanent residents earn the right to apply for United States citizenship. The Virgin Islands Legislature has responded by formally endorsing H.R. 3517 in an unanimous vote of 9 to 0. on April 29. 1981. This action followed a series of public hearings at which the witnesses on All three principal islands of the territory overwhelmingly supported this bill. H.R. 3517 has also been formally endorsed by the alien interest movement. the leading organization of noncitizens living in the U.S. Virgin Islands and the advisory council of the alien emphasis program. The following are the principal features of H.R. 3517: First.