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Special Message to the Congress Recommending Amendments to the Refugee Relief Actby Dwight D. Eisenhower: 1953-1961
Special Message to the Congress Recommending Amendments to the Refugee Relief Act To the Congress of the United States:
The Refugee Relief Act of 1953 has now been in effect for
almost two
years. During the last year and a half, substantial progress has
been made in setting up the complex organization required to
administer the technical requirements of the Act. The
necessary cooperation of the various governmental agencies,
including those related to medical and security matters, has
been enlisted. Over 30,000 visas have actually been issued.
Nearly 85,000 applicants are in various stages of
processing. Nevertheless, the purposes of the Act are not being
achieved as swiftly as we had all hoped. As a result of the
experience gained in administering the Act to date, important
administrative instructions designed to expedite the
procedures under it have already been issued. The men and
women handling the program are fully aware of the urgency of
their mission. I am assured by the Secretary of State that
further administrative improvements can and will be made. Experience has demonstrated, however, that administrative
improvements are not enough. A number of the provisions of the
Act require amendment if the Act's objectives are to be fully
achieved. I urge upon the Congress the following: (1) The Act, at present, contains specific categories of
eligibility with specific numbers allotted to each category.
It now appears that because of some of the technical
requirements of the Act and the growing prosperity in Western
Europe, there may not be enough applicants to fill the quotas
in some categories. I recommend that there be a provision for
the use of unused numbers. Such unused numbers might well be
used, for example, for orphans on a worldwide basis. (2) The Act limits the term "refugee" to those who have not
been "firmly resettled." Experience has shown that this
provision tends to exclude the hard-working and the
adjustable, the very people we want most as new citizens.
Moreover, it appears that "resettlement" is such a vague term
as to create conflicts in interpretation and delays in
clearing applications. I recommend that this limitation be withdrawn so that,
where the refugee otherwise qualifies on a selective basis, he
will not be barred because he is diligent and competent. (3) A similar difficulty is presented by the terms of the
Act which require that an "escapee" or "expellee" also be a
"refugee." Under the Act this unduly limits the escapees and
expellees who may be admitted. This, again, serves to exclude
some of the most desirable people who have, at great
sacrifice, at least temporarily resettled themselves. I am
sure it is enough that a person be a qualified "escapee" or
"expellee" to meet the standards on which we all agree. They
should not also be required to be "refugees" within the narrow
definition of the Act. (4) The requirement that a "refugee" be living away from
his traditional home has excluded many tragic victims of
disaster whom I am sure the Congress intended to admit. This
includes Netherlands' farmers whose land has been ruined by
floods of salt water, Greek mountain people whose herds have
been despoiled by Communist invaders and many similar victims
of catastrophe. The restriction should be relaxed. ( 5 ) The Act contains a salutary provision enacted by the
Congress for the benefit of aliens who are here in the United
States and who fear persecution if required to return abroad.
There is a limitation, however, within this section which has
caused undue hardship in some cases. It requires that the
person show "lawful entry as a bona fide non-immigrant",
before he is eligible for this humanitarian relief. I recommend to the Congress that the section be amended to
permit the Attorney General to waive this requirement in
meritorious cases where the person is otherwise qualified
under the Act. It is estimated that this would not involve
more than a few hundred cases, but in the case of each
individual human being such an amendment would satisfy the
beneficent purposes of the Congress. (6) Obviously people who have risked their lives to escape
from totalitarian nations often have no passports. The Refugee
Relief Act, however, requires passports and in many cases this
has served to defeat the very purpose of the Congress. I
recommend amendment to permit waiver of the need for passports
and similar documents in the discretion of the Secretary of
State and the Attorney General as is already provided in the
basic immigration and nationality laws. (7) Under the Act, no escapee or refugee is entitled to a
visa unless there is available complete information regarding
his history for two years past, except on waiver by the
Secretaries of State and Defense, if it is determined to be in
the national interest. No such requirement is applicable in the case of regular
immigrants under the Immigration and Nationality Act of
1952. This two year history, in the case of recent escapees, is
often impossible to obtain. Yet these are the very people who
have been actively stimulated to risk the perils of escape by
our own information program broadcast through the Iron
Curtain. I have faith in the competence of our security personnel,
and I recommend that this inflexible requirement be eliminated
from the law, leaving it to the sound discretion of the
security officer to make his recommendation on the basis of
all the facts available. If he is in doubt, he will not
certify the refugee or escapee as a proper security risk. (8) Another obstacle to the achievement of the purposes of
the Act is the requirement of individual sponsorship and
guarantees of each application for admission. Where
responsible, voluntary welfare organizations are prepared to
give assurances with respect to applicants by name, it is
unnecessary to add the burdensome requirement that individual
sponsorship of each such applicant also be provided. I
recommend that where such agency assurances are given,
individual assurances not be required in addition. (9) At present, special visas may not be issued to wives,
husbands or children of persons admitted under the Act unless
they all come to the United States together. If the members of
the person's family are following at a later time and are
otherwise admissible, then the special visas should be equally
available to them. (10) There are many refugee families in Western Europe
whose members would make useful and productive citizens of the
United States, but who would face separation if they should
avail themselves of the provisions of the Refugee Relief Act.
This they are unwilling to do. They would face separation
because of the fact that one of their members is ineligible
for admission to the United States under the health standards
of our general immigration laws, particularly as respects
tuberculosis. We in the United States no longer regard tuberculosis with
dread. Our treatment standards are high and modern treatment
is increasingly effective. The United States, to its own
benefit, could permit many of these families, within the
existing numerical limitations, to enter under safeguards
provided by the Attorney General and the Surgeon General of
the United States assuring protection of the public health and
adequate treatment of the afflicted individual and also
assuring that such individual will not become a public charge.
I urge that the Congress give consideration to amendments that
would enable this to be done. It is my earnest hope that the changes in the Refugee
Relief Act that I have above outlined can be accomplished
during the present session of the Congress. The enactment of these changes will permit effective
administration of the Act by the Executive branch of the
Government and greatly aid the success of the program. The
persons permitted to enter the country under the program will
make a fine contribution to the body of our citizens. And we
shall again reaffirm that the great tradition of sanctuary
lives on in
America.
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.
This is part of the presidential paper historical series featuring past presidential public papers related to immigration law. The papers of our past Presidents show the impact of immigration law in American history. We thank the efforts of the American Presidency Project who have gathered these important archival documents.
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