The first Senate hearing on immigration in 12 years opened today when the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization began to hear testimony on the need to revamp the existing American immigration laws by abolishing the national-origins quota system in issuing immigration visas.
Sen. Abraham Ribicoff. Connecticut Democrat, who was the first to testify, made a strong attack on the national origins quota system which has been in use since 1924. He called the system “the most repugnant feature of the present process,” and said that “it has perpetuated a pattern of discrimination that tarnishes our image across the globe.”
In pointing to contributions made to American society by immigrants, he stated: “We deprive ourselves of these contributions by restricting their admission by out-dated, irrational reasoning.” He urged that old laws be discarded in favor of a system which expedites the admission of persons with special skills needed for the continued growth of the American economy; which enable immigrant families to be “reunited in the warmth of democracy”; and which cases the admission of refugees seeking to shed the bonds of tyranny.
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