Barring individuals and groups from the United States solely because we do not like what they say or what they write represents a danger to our own values. a shroud of censorship on our own people. Diversity. dialog. exchange of ideas are the lifegiving elements. the water and air. or American tradition. exclusion. restriction. repression of ideas are the features of far more troubled. less confident nations. To be sure. we have a legitimate right and duty to maintain proper border controls. Those controls must be all the more effective in a day of supersonic travel. sophisticated espionage. and increased resort to terrorism. And that is all the more reason to update our immigration laws so officials can concentrate on true threats to our national security and public welfare. Todays television and radio bring right into our living rooms the images and voices of exponents of every political and artistic tendency from around the world. To deny these speakers entry on our shores insults the intelligence of the American people. as well as injuring our freedoms. There are 33 categories of exclusions in section 212(a) of the McCarranWalter Act. Many of them are legitimate grounds for exclusion. others perhaps questionable today. Today I join with Senator SIMON in introducing a bill that will provide some of the reform that this part of our immigration law needs. This bill would prevent individuals from being denied temporary visas because of their political views. While additional reforms are long overdue. this bill brings us closer to ending a form of censorship that intrudes on the first amendment rights of Americans to hear different ideas and arguments. This bill also adds a new exclusion for terrorist activities.
Keywords matched
immigration visas border control