Speech #1090137386

I see my good friend from New Hampshire 52. Pt. 7 9355 coming to the floor to offer his amendment. I must rise in opposition to the soon to be pending amendment. which would essentially do away with the original purpose of the diversity visa program. As a Member of the House. I helped create this program. which my colleague. Senator KENNEDY. created in the Senate in 1990. It had a very simple purpose. and that was this. Our Immigration laws were based on family reunification and certain other qualifications. so there were whole ranges of countries from which people could not get visas. They tended to be European and African. even though the vast majority of Americans are descendents of Europeans and Africans. But because for several generations no people had come from those countriesthe people were either third cousins or unrelated to people herethe family unification. a very noble purpose. took predominance and the overwhelming majority of immigrants came from the Caribbean. Latin America. and Asia. This diversity program was a small program. and it was intended to allow some from other countries to come. In fact. my city of New York has dramatically benefited from this program. and diverse countries such as Ireland. Poland. and Nigeria have had large numbers of immigrants to be able to come. set roots. and help the diversity of New York and of America. So this is an excellent program. Nobody has said it has done a bad job. It is small. There are only about 50.000 visas a year. It is really based on the idea of new seed. I believe every immigrant is special because they. or all of us who descend from them. come from a special group of people who had the guts and the gumption to get off their butts and basically come to America. They said: I dont want to lead this diseaseridden. impoverished life. I am willing to come here and take a risk.