|
|
|
|
SUBSCRIBE The leading Copyright |
Presidential Paper Historical Series: Statement And Directive By The President On Immigration To The United States Of Certain Displaced Persons And Refugees In Europeby President Harry S Truman: 1945-1953
225 -
Statement and Directive by the President on Immigration to the
United States of Certain Displaced Persons and Refugees in
Europe THE WAR has brought in its wake an appalling dislocation of
populations in Europe. Many humanitarian organizations,
including the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation
Administration, are doing their utmost to solve the multitude
of problems arising in connection with this dislocation of
hundreds of thousands of persons. Every effort is being made
to return the displaced persons and refugees in the various
countries of Europe to their former homes. The great
difficulty is that so many of these persons have no homes to
which they may return. The immensity of the problem of
displaced persons and refugees is almost beyond
comprehension. A number of countries in Europe, including Switzerland,
Sweden, France, and England, are working toward its solution.
The United States shares the responsibility to relieve the
suffering. To the extent that our present immigration laws
permit, everything possible should be done at once to
facilitate the entrance of some of these displaced persons and
refugees into the United States. In this way we may do something to relieve human misery,
and set an example to the other countries of the world which
are able to receive some of these war sufferers. I feel that
it is essential that we do this ourselves to show our good
faith in requesting other nations to open their doors for this
purpose. Most of these persons are natives of Central and Eastern
Europe and the Balkans. The immigration quotas for all these
countries for one year total approximately 39,000, two-thirds
of which are allotted to Germany. Under the law, in any single
month the number of visas issued cannot exceed ten per cent of
the annual quota. This means that from now on only about 3900
visas can be issued each month to persons who are natives of
these countries. Very few persons from Europe have migrated to the United
States during the war years. In the fiscal year 1942, only ten
per cent of the immigration quotas was used; in 1943, five per
cent; in 1944, six per cent; and in 1945, seven per cent. As
of November 30, 1945, the end of the fifth month of the
present fiscal year, only about ten per cent of the quotas for
the European countries has been used. These unused quotas
however do not accumulate through the years, and I do not
intend to ask the Congress to change this rule. The factors chiefly responsible for these low immigration
figures were restraints imposed by the enemy, transportation
difficulties, and the absence of consular facilities. Most of
those Europeans who have been admitted to the United States
during the last five years were persons who left Europe prior
to the war, and thereafter entered here from non-European
countries. I consider that common decency and the fundamental
comradeship of all human beings require us to do what lies
within our power to see that our established immigration
quotas are used in order to reduce human suffering. I am
taking the necessary steps to see that this is done as quickly
as possible. Of the displaced persons and refugees whose entrance into
the United States we will permit under this plan, it is hoped
that the majority will be orphaned children. The provisions of
law prohibiting the entry of persons likely to become public
charges will be strictly observed. Responsible welfare
organizations now at work in this field will guarantee that
these children will not become public charges. Similar
guarantees have or will be made on behalf of adult persons.
The record of these welfare organizations throughout the past
years has been excellent, and I am informed that no persons
admitted under their sponsorship have ever become charges on
their communities. Moreover, many of the immigrants will have
close family ties in the United States and will receive the
assistance of their relatives until they are in a position to
provide for themselves. These relatives or organizations will also advance the
necessary visa fees and travel fare. Where the necessary funds
for travel fare and visa fees have not been advanced by a
welfare organization or relative, the individual applicant
must meet these costs. In this way the transportation of these
immigrants across the Atlantic will not cost the American
taxpayers a single dollar. In order to enter the United States it is necessary to
obtain a visa from a consular officer of the Department of
State. As everyone knows, a great many of our consular
establishments all over the world were disrupted and their
operations suspended when the war came. It is physically
impossible to reopen and to restaff all of them overnight.
Consequently it is necessary to choose the area in which to
concentrate our immediate efforts. This is a painful necessity
because it requires us to make an almost impossible choice
among degrees of misery. But if we refrain from making a
choice because it will necessarily be arbitrary, no choice
will ever be made and we shall end by helping no one. The decision has been made, therefore, to concentrate our
immediate efforts in the American zones of occupation in
Europe. This is not intended however entirely to exclude
issuance of visas in other parts of the world. In our zones in Europe there are citizens of every major
European country. Visas issued to displaced persons and
refugees will be charged, according to law, to the countries
of their origin. They will be distributed fairly among persons
of all faiths, creeds and nationality. It is intended that, as soon as practicable, regular
consular facilities will be reestablished in every part of the
world, and the usual, orderly methods of registering and
reviewing visa applications will be resumed. The pressing
need, however, is to act now in a way that will produce
immediate and tangible results. I hope that by early spring
adequate consular facilities will be in operation in our zones
in Europe, so that immigration can begin immediately upon the
availability of ships. I am informed that there are various measures now pending
before the Congress which would either prohibit or severely
reduce further immigration. I hope that such legislation will
not be passed. This period of unspeakable human distress is
not the time for us to close or to narrow our gates. I wish to
emphasize, however, that any effort to bring relief to these
displaced persons and refugees must and will be strictly
within the limits of the present quotas as imposed by law. There is one particular matter involving a relatively small
number of aliens. President Roosevelt, in an endeavor to
assist in handling displaced persons and refugees during the
war and upon the recommendation of the War Refugee Board,
directed that a group of about 1000 displaced persons be
removed from refugee camps in Italy and settled temporarily in
a War Relocation Camp near Oswego, New York. Shortly
thereafter, President Roosevelt informed the Congress that
these persons would be returned to their homelands after the
war. Upon the basis of a careful survey by the Department of
State and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, it has
been determined that if these persons were now applying for
admission to the United States most of them would be
admissible under the immigration laws. In the circumstances,
it would be inhumane and wasteful to require these people to
go all the way back to Europe merely for the purpose of
applying there for immigration visas and returning to the
United States. Many of them have close relatives, including
sons and daughters, who are citizens of the United States and
who have served and are serving honorably in the armed forces
of our country. I am therefore directing the Secretary of
State and the Attorney General to adjust the immigration
status of the members of this group who may wish to remain
here, in strict accordance with existing laws and
regulations. The number of persons at the Oswego camp is, however,
comparatively small. Our major task is to facilitate the entry
into the United States of displaced persons and refugees still
in Europe. To meet this larger problem, I am directing the
Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of
War, the War Shipping Administrator and the Surgeon General of
the Public Health Service to proceed at once to take all
appropriate steps to expedite the quota immigration of
displaced persons and refugees from Europe to the United
States. Representatives of these officials will depart for
Europe very soon to prepare detailed plans for the prompt
execution of this project. The attached directive has been issued by me to the
responsible government agencies to carry out this policy. I
wish to emphasize, above all, that nothing in this directive
will deprive a single American soldier or his wife or children
of a berth on a vessel homeward bound, or delay their
return. This is the opportunity for America to set an example for
the rest of the world in cooperation towards alleviating human
misery. DIRECTIVE BY THE PRESIDENT ON IMMIGRATION Memorandum to: Secretary of State, Secretary of War,
Attorney General, War Shipping Administrator, Surgeon General
of the Public Health Service, Director General of UNRRA:
The grave dislocation of populations in Europe resulting from
the war has produced human suffering that the people of the
United States cannot and will not ignore. This Government
should take every possible measure to facilitate full
immigration to the United States under existing quota
laws. The war has most seriously disrupted our normal facilities
for handling immigration matters in many parts of the world.
At the same time, the demands upon those facilities have
increased many-fold. It is, therefore, necessary that
immigration under the quotas be resumed initially in the areas
of greatest need. I, therefore, direct the Secretary of State,
the Secretary of War, the Attorney General, the Surgeon
General of the Public Health Service, the War Shipping
Administrator, and other appropriate officials to take the
following action: The Secretary of State is directed to establish with the
utmost despatch consular facilities at or near displaced
person and refugee assembly center areas in the American zones
of occupation. It shall be the responsibility of these
consular officers, in conjunction with the Immigrant
Inspectors, to determine as quickly as possible the
eligibility of the applicants for visas and admission to the
United States. For this purpose the Secretary will, if
necessary, divert the personnel and funds of his Department
from other functions in order to insure the most expeditious
handling of this operation. In cooperation with the Attorney
General, he shall appoint as temporary vice-consuls,
authorized to issue visas, such officers of the Immigration
and Naturalization Service as can be made available for this
program. Within the limits of administrative discretion, the
officers of the Department of State assigned to this program
shall make every effort to simplify and to hasten the process
of issuing visas. If necessary, blocs of visa numbers may be
assigned to each of the emergency consular establishments.
Each such bloc may be used to meet the applications filed at
the consular establishment to which the bloc is assigned. It
is not intended however entirely to exclude the issuance of
visas in other parts of the world. Visas should be distributed fairly among persons of all
faiths, creeds and nationalities. I desire that special
attention be devoted to orphaned children to whom it is hoped
the majority of visas will be issued. With respect to the requirement of law that visas may not
be issued to applicants likely to become public charges after
admission to the United States, the Secretary of State shall
cooperate with the Immigration and Naturalization Service in
perfecting appropriate arrangements with welfare organizations
in the United States which may be prepared to guarantee
financial support to successful applicants. This may be
accomplished by corporate affidavit or by any means deemed
appropriate and practicable. The Secretary of War, subject to limitations imposed by the
Congress on War Department appropriations, will give such help
as is practicable in: (a) Furnishing information to appropriate consular officers
and Immigrant Inspectors to facilitate in the selection of
applicants for visas; and (b) Assisting until other facilities suffice in: (1)
transporting immigrants to a European port; (2) feeding,
housing and providing medical care to such immigrants until
embarked; and (c) Making available office facilities, billets, messes,
and transportation for Department of State, Department of
Justice, and United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation
Administration personnel connected with this work, where
practicable and requiring no out-of-pocket expenditure by the
War Department and when other suitable facilities are not
available. The Attorney General, through the Immigration and
Naturalization Service, will assign personnel to duty in the
American zones of occupation to make the immigration
inspections, to assist consular officers of the Department of
State in connection with the issuance of visas, and to take
the necessary steps to settle the cases of those aliens
presently interned at Oswego through appropriate statutory and
administrative processes. The Administrator of the War Shipping Administration will
make the necessary arrangements for water transportation from
the port of embarkation in Europe to the United States subject
to the provision that the movement of immigrants will in no
way interfere with the scheduled return of service personnel
and their spouses and children from the European theater. The Surgeon General of the Public Health Service will
assign to duty in the American zones of occupation the
necessary personnel to conduct the mental and physical
examinations of prospective immigrants prescribed in the
immigration laws. The Director General of the United Nations Relief and
Rehabilitation Administration will be requested to provide all
possible aid to the United States authorities in preparing
these people for transportation to the United States and to
assist in their care, particularly in the cases of children in
transit and others needing special attention. In order to insure the effective execution of this program,
the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, the Attorney
General, War Shipping Administrator and the Surgeon General of
the Public Health Service shall appoint representatives to
serve as members of an interdepartmental committee under the
Chairmanship of the Commissioner of Immigration and
Naturalization.
Reprinted with permission from John Wolley and Gerhard Peters of the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara at the American Presidency Project.
About The Author |
Add to del.icio.us