Speech #1000086736

Mr. President. I rise today to join Senator KENNEDY in introducing a bill to correct inequities in our immigration laws which have existed since 1965. This bill. the Immigration Act of 1987. would change the numerical limitation and preference system for the admission of immigrants to this country. Fairness is at issue here. One need only look at a country such as Ireland with strong historical roots in America to see how the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965 radically changed the balance of immigration. The 1965 act established a limit of 270.000 new visas per year to be issued under a preference system that strongly favors individuals that have close relatives who recently emigrated to the United States. The system works to the disadvantage of individuals in countries like Ireland. which sent the first waves of immigrants to America. The countries which sent our grandparents and greatgrandparents to America are penalized because citizens of those countries who want to emigrate to the United States do not have close enough relatives here to qualify under the 1965 preference categories. I am most personally familiar with immigration from Ireland. One hundred and one years ago. my grandfather Jack Moynihan left County Kerry in search of opportunity and a new lifea search which led him to Jamestown. NY. Yet. under our current immigration laws. my grandfather would not have been so fortunate. Permit me to explain why. In his book. "The Irish Americans." Andrew M. Greeley states that about one quarter of the Irish in America are descendants of families who migrated before 1870. another twofifths are descendants of those who came between 1870 and 1900. and another quarter are descendants of those who came between 1900 and 1925. Only 7 percent of Irish Americans are descendants of immigrants who came after 1925. Seventyone percent of Irish Catholics in America are third or fourth generation. As a result of this situation. of 270.152 preference visas issued worldwide in 1986. only 730 were issued to Irish citizens. This is directly attributable to the advantage given to visa applicants with immediate family in the United States. Economic conditions have scarcely improved since the days when my grandfather Jack lived in Ireland. In fact. the unemployment rate is over 30 percent for young people. Yet. it is doubtful that today my grandfather would be eligible to enter this country under our existing laws. Our present immigration policy functions at the expense of countries. like Ireland. which sent our earliest settlersthe forefathers of many Americans today. From the travels and discoveries of St. Brendananother native of County Kerryin the fifth century to the early explorers of the Colonies. the tales of these first pioneers are fascinating indeed. Michael J. OBrien. historiographer of the American Irish Historical Society at the turn of this century. in his collection of 132 articles. lists no fewer than 25.000 17th and 18th century Irish pioneers and settlerseven before the "green wave" of Irish immigration hit our shores during the 19th century. OBrien chronicled the early expeditions to the New World stating that. "It seems that in all of the early voyages of the English to the American Continent. the adventurous Irishman was present." This included Sir Walter Raleighs first and subsequent voyages to this country. In his article entitled "A Glance at Some Pioneer Irish in the South." (1907) OBrien writes. "In the charter which Raleigh received from the English Crown on March 27. 1585. empowering him to hold the lands which he had colonized in America and apportion them among the colonists. reference is made to persons from England and Ireland. thus showing that Irishmen were among the first white settlers of the Western World." The OBrien article also tells the tale of Capt.