Speech #810076330

The total number of dsplaced persons admitted by December 31. 1948. was 2.506. During the spring the program has been speeded up by administrative rulings on many puzzling policies of the statutepolicies which should have been made crystal clear by the Congress. May 12. 1949. 24.249 displaced. persons had been admitted under the act. only a small percentage of the limited quotas provided. and a tragically small proportion of the homeless in Europe deserving of the opportunity to immigrate to America. Indications are that resettlement opportunities for the 205.000 persons authorized under the present law will have been made available by August of this year. Assurances of job and living accommodations for prospective immigrees are pouring into the Displaced Persons Commission at the rate of about 5.000 families or 9.650 persons per week. There Is no lack of opportunity or welcome among the people of our country. It Is the duty of Congress to make it possible for the program to proceed rapidly and efficiently. The Celler bill contains a number of vital modifications of the present law to permit immigration and to remove clauses which. in effect. withheld from displaced persons of Catholic and Jewish faith their fair share of the quotas according to their numerical population and their present and past suffering. The new provisions will also extend to refugees from Communist persecution the immigration opportunities offered refugees from nazism. and accord treatment equivalent to that granted to displaced persons camp residents to families making their meager living outside the camps. The bill will remedy the difficulties caused by the requirement that 40 percent of the visas authorized must be withheld from all groups not living in "de facto annexed areas" and 30 percent withheld for agriculturalists. Applications for these executive visas have not begun to reach 40 and 30 percent. respectively. of the number of visas authorized by the act. Meanwhile the Commission cannot act on applications from other worthy persons. This has been a major stumbling block. and adjustment is imperative.