Mr. Speaker. today I am introducing legislation witha number of my colleagues which will bring long needed reform to our immigration laws. The goal is to open our country to a number of immigrants. groups who were shortchanged by the 1965 law. Identical legislation is being introduced in the other body by the senior Senator from my State. Our bill would separate the existing family reunification preferences from the employment and skillrelated preferences by creating a new and expanded independent category. It creates 50.000 additional visas for older sources of immigrationespecially for those from Ireland. Italy. the nations of Western Europe and Canada. There are imbalances in current immigration laws which this bill will correct. by opening our doors to those who no longer have immediate family ties in the United States. It is based directly on the recommendations of the 1981 Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy. The time has come for Congress to pick up where we left off last year. Passage of this bill will continue and strengthen one of the oldest and most enduring themes in our Nations historyAmericas immigrant heritage.
Keywords matched
immigrant Immigration family reunification Refugee immigration immigrants immigrationespecially visas