Speech #1010042966

There is love. There is a desire to bring to this Nation with all that it offers those in ones family who are beloved. who in many cases have waited long and patiently who are in the category of the fifth preference and in many cases do not have a very good chance. We are talking at~out family reunification. In some instances. the wait is so long that it would seem more accurate to call it ancestor reunification in terms of their prospects of getting here in time to be reunited with their family. But what is clear is that those who have proposed this amendment have done so precisely because they feel that the answer to the question posed by our friend from Wyomingshould we pit one group of familyrelated immigrants against another?-is that this cap. which he does not call it. will do precisely that. Because what their amendment proposes is to set a floor on the number of immigrants who can come into the country who do not fall into the category of immediate relatives. and they do so as you have heard repeatedly this afternoon because the projection is that without this amendment the General Accounting Office sees that by 1999 there will be a squeeze indeed and in fact the level of immigration for familyconnected members other than the immediate family. other than the minor children. the spouses and the parents. will have dropped to zero because all others will have been crowded out by the immediate relatives. I think what has been established is that the likelihood under review at almost any time in the future is that immediate relatives. immediate family members. are probably going to be accommodated. The question is to what extent are we going to allow Into the country those other family members who are not minor children. spouses. or parents? And the answer it seems clear to me is that the whole purpose of this legislation is to set a limit. and indeed very candidly the Senator from Wyoming has stated that that is the purpose. that that will be the effect. What you have in the HatchDeConclni amendment is a common sense and humane effort to see to it that as we seek to accommodate those immediate family members. those immediate relatives. we also provide a sufficient compartment in that immigration liner coming to us that it will be able to accommodate some of the others. And the number that they have selected. 216.000. happens to be the number that reflects that kind of Immigration last year. What we do know is that we can expect. according to every source. that the number of immediate relatives will grow and that as it grows there will be a corresponding reduction unless. of course. this amendment is adopted and provides for that floor. Without it the prospect. everyone seems to agree. is that finally as the number of immediate family members increases in immigration to this Nation the number that is available through these other preferences. the second. the third. the fifth. is going to correspondingly be reduced. That is very simply stated what this amendment is all about. I think that it is a wise amendment.