Speech #1010216943

Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of H.R. 4300. the Family Unity and Employment Opportunity Immigration Act of 1990. Only 2 weeks ago we celebrated the opening of a museum at Ellis Island. the gateway to America for thousands of immigrants over the past century. Immigrants who came to America with dreams in their eyes and heats. immigrants who came to this country with a vision of a better life. immigrants who lived those dreams and built those visionswho helped drive the economic machinery that made this Nation a thriving. productive. economic giant. Today Ellis Island is an immigration museum. Notwithstanding. immigration has not been relegated to the history books. rather immigration is an ongoing process. an integral part of our heritage. Yet this Nations immigration policy. which since 1965 has been based on family reunification. has inadvertently resulted in a narrowly focused influx of immigrants into the United States. Over the past quarter century. the vast majority of immigrants have hailed from Latin America or from Asia. Immigration from Europe. Africa. and other regions of the world has been virtually shut ott. dwindling to a mere trickle under current immigration policy. H.R. 4300 sets aside visas for countries like Ireland. Italy. and Poland which are designated as underrepresented. The bill seeks to preserve the diversity of the American society that we have come to view as our most valuable asset.