Speech #1010043013

Mr. President. I was pleased to join Senator KENNEDY as a cosponsor of the Immigration Act of 1989. S. 358. This bill creates two separate immigrant visa preference systems: One for family members. another for independent immigrants. Although the legislation continues to stress family reunification and in fact does much to streamline the existing system. it also recognizes that the United States requires skilled immigrants. To accomplish both these goals. 120.000 visas will be reserved for independent immigrants. that is. for persons of exceptional merit or with needed skills. Of these 120.000 visas. 54.000 will be distributed according to a point system which will award points for levels of education. occupational demand. and occupational experience. The cumbersome individual labor certification requirement is eliminated for these visas. At present. over 90 percent of the visas issued today are family related. Those seeking visas under the nonpreference category have little chance. However. this legislation changes that. and the new category established is expected to benefit individuals from Western European countries such as Ireland. Italy. and others that were earlier sources of immigration to this country. but which have been effectively shut out due to the strict preference system currently in place. This legislation seeks to inject fairness into our immigration laws. Traditionally. apart from the Chinese Exclusion Act of the late 19th century we did little to regulate immigration to this country at all. That is until 1924 when we enacted the National Origins law that had in mind keeping the United States exactly as it once had been. It set national origin quotas on the basis of the 1890 census. was proNorthern European. proWestern Europe. and openly so. This was nativist legislation. though some of the natives were not very welcome when they arrived. The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act amendments were a direct response to this nativist legislation and attempted to undo that earlier bias. The 1965 amendments accomplished this. but overdid it in the process. Stressing family ties. the 1965 law clogged the system and cut off access to this country for the people and nations where immigration took place three or four generations ago. The 1981 report of the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policya distinguished panel headed by Father Theodore Hesburgh and counting among its members our two sponsors today. Senators KENNEDY and SIMPSONsummed it up well. The report states that: The low priority accorded nonfamily immigrants and a cumbersome labor certification process for clearing them for admission has made it difficult for persons without previous family ties in the United States or extensive training and skills to immigrate. The effort to limit immigration in 1924 to some groups to prefer them over others. was not wellreceived. It was not right. not fair. Now we have moved too far in the other direction. The system now disadvantages individuals from countries which sent the first waves of immigrants to America. Since most European immigrants arrived in this country long before 1965. they do not have any close relatives to bring them in. Clearly. a midcourse correction is in order. The legislation now before us accomplishes such a correction. It restores fairness and balance to our immigration laws to ensure that certain individuals and nations are not penalized because of their long heritage in this country. Certainly. the interests of family reunification are great and our immigration policies should not hamper such. However. we also need to help the descendants of our forefathers. to open the doors to opportunity for them as well. It is also worth noting that this is not an overpopulated country. In fact. at some point in the next century the American population will actually start to decline. There is room for some more people in this country. there always has been and should be. I urge my colleagues to support the Immigration Act of 1989. In closing. Mr. President. I would ask unanimous consent that the following brief chronology of U.S. immigration policy be placed in the RECORD.