And they continued to come. wave upon wave. 150.000 in the 1820s. 1 million or more in the 1840s. 3 million in the 1870s. and by the end of the first decade of the new century. fully 14 million more had landed and were making their lasting impression upon the American character. Inevitably. of course. and this brings us more clearly to this legislation before us. the Federal Government came to recognize that our entry gates could not permanently remain wide open. This immigration legislation today is in a long line of immigration policy initiatives starting 102 years ago in 1882. Now. let me speak more specifically to my support of this amendment of the gentleman from California. this amendment of the Labor Committee. and the other few amendments that will be before you from the Labor Committee. Immigration. as you all know. from its beginning has been a prominent and often divisive subject. For a century now. the majority of Americans have persistently and persuasively argued for a policy which. though firm. is not blindly restrictive. Americas workers. while recognizing their own roots. have. in the main. demanded prudent entry quota policies and regulations which would adequately protect their jobs. That has been the price of immigration reform in each of the Congresses that dealt with it. It is imminently understandable that todays 10 million unemployed and their families are concerned that this immigration bill not provide them with additional hurdles toward finding a job. The amendments of our Labor Committee protect this Nations domestic workers. many of them at the bottom of the economic ladder. protect them from losing their jobs to temporary foreign labor. protect their civil rights. as this amendment does. Without these amendments. the number of foreign temporary workers could increase by as much as 25 times. that is. we could have. without proper amendment. 500.000 alien workers in this country.
Keywords matched
Immigration immigration