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Statement by the President Upon Issuing Order Establishing a Commission on Immigration and Naturalization: Presidential Paper Historical Seriesby President Harry S Truman: 1945-1953
Statement by the President Upon Issuing Order Establishing a Commission on Immigration and Naturalization I HAVE TODAY established a special Commission on
Immigration and Naturalization, to study and evaluate the
immigration and naturalization policies of the United
States. Our immigration and naturalization policies are of major
importance to our own security and to the defense of the free
world. Immediately after the war ended, we recognized the
plight of the displaced persons; we acted to cooperate with
other nations and to admit a share of these victims of war and
tyranny into our own country. The displaced persons program
has now been successfully concluded, but the free world faces
equally grave and equally heart-rending problems in the
continual stream of refugees and escapees from the Iron
Curtain countries into Western Europe. These people add to the
pressures of overpopulation in certain countries. Overseas
migration from Europe has been dammed up by years of war and
international economic disorder. While we have joined with
other nations to meet such problems as these, our own
immigration laws based on conditions and assumptions that have
long ceased to exist, present serious obstacles in reaching a
satisfactory solution. Humanitarian considerations, as well as the national
interest, require that we reassess our immigration policies in
the light of these facts. The United States must remain true
to its great traditions and have an immigration policy that
strengthens our Nation at home and furthers our world
leadership. The 82d Congress devoted much time and effort to this
problem, but the bill which it passed was so defective in many
important provisions that I could not give it my approval. In
my veto message, I expressed the hope that the Congress would
agree to a careful reexamination of the entire matter. I
suggested that the Congress create a representative commission
of outstanding Americans to make a study of the basic
assumptions of our immigration policy, the quota system and
all that goes into it, the effect of our immigration and
nationality laws, and the ways in which they can be brought
into line with our national ideals and our foreign policy. The
Congress did not act upon these suggestions. I do not believe that the matter should remain where the
Congress left it. The problems of immigration policy grow more
pressing, and the inequities fostered by the new law require
careful examination. I am, therefore, appointing this
Commission in the belief that its recommendations will enable
the next Congress to consider the subject promptly and
intelligently. This Commission will have the benefit of much
information already drawn together in the field of
immigration, including that developed by the committees of
Congress in their long study of the problem. It should,
therefore, be in a position to complete its study before the
reconvening of the next Congress.
I have directed the Commission to give particular
consideration to: (a) The requirements and administration of our immigration
laws with respect to the admission, naturalization, and
denaturalization of aliens, and their exclusion and
deportation; (b) The admission of immigrants into this country in the
light of our present and prospective economic and social
conditions and of other pertinent considerations; and (c) The effect of our immigration laws, and their
administration, including the national origin quota system, on
the conduct of the foreign policies of the United States, and
the need for authority to meet emergency conditions such as
the present overpopulation of parts of Western Europe and the
serious refugee and escapee problems in such areas. The members of the Commission are as follows:
Philip B. Perlman of Maryland, Chairman (formerly, Solicitor
General of the United States, City Solicitor of Baltimore,
secretary of the State of Maryland, assistant attorney general
of Maryland).
Earl G. Harrison of Pennsylvania, Vice Chairman ( attorney,
formerly U.S. Commissioner of Immigration and
Naturalization-and formerly dean of the Law School of the
University of Pennsylvania).
Msgr. John O'Grady of Washington, D.C. (secretary, National
Conference of Catholic Charities).
Rev. Thaddeus F. Gullixson of Minnesota (president, Lutheran
Theological Seminary of St. Paul, Minn., chairman, Minnesota
State Displaced Persons Commission).
Clarence E. Pickett of Pennsylvania (honorary secretary,
American Friends Service Committee).
Adrian S. Fisher of Tennessee (Legal Adviser to State
Department, formerly General Counsel of Atomic Energy
Commission and Solicitor of the Department of Commerce).
Thomas G. Finucane of Maryland (Chairman, Board of Immigration
Appeals, Department of Justice). NOTE: The Commission was established in the Executive
Office of the President by Executive Order 10392 "Establishing
the President's Commission on Immigration and Naturalization"
(3 CFR, 1949-
For the President's statement upon receiving the Commission's
report, see Item 364. 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.
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