Mr. President. there is much wisdom in what the Senator from New York has stated here on the floor of the Senate this afternoon. and it reaches one of my very deep concerns about this whole piece of legislation. In the effort to try to deal with what all of us have understood to be sort of an uncontrolled kind of movement of people into this country. across borders in some instances. and because of what has happened in terms of the entrance of the boat people and Cuban refugees of recent years. the concern with that. what this body has done is now pitted American families against American families. As one who was. as I mentioned yesterday. the floor manager of the 1965 act. as we tried to eliminate aspects of discrimination in our immigration. the national origins quota system. the Asian Pacific Triangle. we put an important priority on families and family reunification. Now yesterday for the first time we eliminated the fifth preference. the opportunities of brothers and sisters of American citizens to be joined with their families here in the United States. The Senate even rejected a very limited program for brothers and sisters who were unmarried. part of what I consider to be a family. with all due respect. and I think the Senator from Maryland made the case very eloquently yesterday.
Keywords matched
family reunification immigration national origins quota refugees