Speech #980164716

Mr. Speaker. we take great pride in the fact that our Nation is a nation of immigrantsmen and women who made their way to our shores for a better way of life and for the freedoms they did not have in their mother countries. Our Immigration and Nationality Act has been amended many times to make its regulations more just and equitable. Public Law 89236. for example. repealed the national origins quota concept as a system for selecting immigrants to the United States and substituted a ceiling on Eastern Hemisphere immigration on a firstcome. firstserved basis. within various preference categories. and a 20.000 limit per country. Public Law 94571 further amended the Immigration and Naturalization Act to apply the sevencategory preference system. as well as the 20.000percountry limit. to the Western Hemisphere as well as the Eastern Hemisphere. Public Law 95412 contained the two ceilings in a single worldwide ceiling of 290.000 with a single preference system. Some foreign nationals are inadvertently still being discriminated against. despite the new limitations. Ireland. for example. was the mother country for millions of our "new seed" immigrants in the last century. These hardworking men and women helped make our Nation great. Ireland used 6.328 immigrant visas in fiscal 1964 and only 746 for fiscal 1982. And. as far as we know. this reduction was not voluntary. When we realize that since 1820. over 4.692.856 immigrants have come from Ireland. we begin to get a sense of the problem. It seems that the natives of countries highly favored by the national origins quota system almost by definition are more apt to have ancestors buried here than close relatives who can petition for their entry. Because so many Irish came so long ago. the preference quota systembrother or sister of a U.S. citizen for examplerarely applies. In 1965. we were assured that upon passage of the new immigration amendments. all nationalities would be treated on an equal footing. History has taught us otherwise. Thousands of deserving immigrants are unable to qualify for visas under the new law and immigration from those countries has dwindled considerably. Therefore. I have introduced legislation to correct this inequitable situation which has gone on for too many years. and urge my colleagues to extend their bipartisian support.*