With peace will come many postwar responsibilities in the conquered countries of central Europe. One of the vital problems is the responsibility America has for displaced persons in Europe. At the present time we are responsible for 588.000 refugees and persecuted persons in Germany and Austria. out of a total of approximately 800.000. These people at the present time. of course. live under our flag. and the administration is responsible for what has happened to them since they came under our care. and for what will happen to them in the future. During the fiscal year 1947 this responsibility has cost the Government of the United States $130.000.000. It is not only the cost. however. with which we should be concerned but it Is the effects these people and their plight at the present time have on the foreign relations of the world. Yesterday. with the signature of the President. the United States became a member of the International Refugee Organization. This Is an organization whose constitution was approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 15. 1946. This agency takes over the administration of the dipplaced persons. and It will in a way become responsible for the welfare of the displaced persons. As our contribution. we have appropriated to this agency $73.325.000. The senior Senator from Michigan . in discussing this bill. said on the floor of the Senate: rhe ultimate answer to the displacedperson problem obviously Is resettlement of displaced persons. The senior Senator from Michigan stated that the IRO would be "a new impetus in respect to resettlement. which is the ultimate answer to the whole situation." The International Refugee Organization was not intended to represent a change in our immigration law. It is apparent that the present quotas under the immigration law will not solve the problem before us. How can we now share our responsibility for the ultimate answer to the displacedperson problem? It is clear that we must study the question of resettlement in the United States of some of these people.
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Refugee immigration refugees