Speech #810153377

Approximately 100.000 of the Greek displaced persons are in displacedpersons camps. There are 30.000 Greek orphans and approximately 270.000 children who are accompanied by only one parent. Testimony before the subcommittee in the course of the last few days is to the effect that there are more than 1.000.000 Palestinian Arab refugees who have been uprooted from their homes as a result of the recent conflict in Palestine. Although the subcommittee has not yet begun its study of the displacedpersons situation in China. it is a certainty that there are at least hundreds of thousands. if not millions. of displaced persons in that area. In addition. Mr. President. information which has come to the subcommittee is to the effect that there are approximately 10.000.000 displaced persons who were displaced in the course of the partition of India. and who. incidentally. are eligible under the provisions of the constitution of the International Refugee Organization. Indeed. Mr. President. the Chairman of the Displaced Persons Commission. in testifying before the subcommittee recently. stated that the aggregate number of displaced persons throughout the world would run up into 20.000.000. Who is a displaced person within the purview of the constitution of the International Refugee Organization. The constitution of the International Refugee Organization embraces all persons in the world. (1) who are. or who may hereafter be. out of their country of nationality or former residence and who are unwilling to return because of fear of persecution. and (2) persons who fled from Germany or Austria because of Nazi persecution and have. under certain circumstances. returned. but have not been resettled. Notwithstanding this broad definition. there are several groups of persons who are displaced. but who are not embraced within the constitution of the International Refugee Organization. For example. the constitution expressly excludes all persons of German ethnic origin. The constitution of the International Refugee Organization also makes ineligible anyone who took up arms against any of the Allies. including communistic Russia. during the war. and under this provision. persons who fought the Soviet invasion of their homelands during the war are ineligible for care. maintenance. and immigration opportunities. The approximately half million displaced persons In Greece are not eligible under the constitution of the International Refugee Organization because most of these persons are presently in their native land of Greece. Likewise. the one million Palestinian Arab refugees are ineligible under the constitution of the International Refugee Organization under recent administrative interpretations of the constitution. And now. Mr. President. may we consider the statistics on the actual numbers of International Refugee Organization eligible displaced persons In central Europe. As of June 30. 1949. there were 626.700 displaced persons in Germany. Austria. and Italy who are International Refugee Organization eligibles. Of those. 383.100 are in camp and 243.600 are out of camp. It is important to note. because of subsequent remarks which I shall make. that less than 5.000 of the central European displaced persons who are outside of camp are dependent on the International Refugee Organization for care and maintenance. Approximately 20.000 persons a month are registering for International Refugee Organization status. and approximately 8.000 a month are being accepted for care and maintenance. From April 1. 1948. through May 31. 1949. according to a press release of the International Refugee Organization dated July 23. 1949. 286.552 new applications were received by the International Refugee Organization. Now. Mr. President. I invite the attention of the Senate to the first major issue which has been under consideration by the subcommittee: Namely. the number of displaced persons whom the United States has thus far received or whom we have thus far provided for by law. In undertaking to appraise this issue. it is necessary to bear in mind that. unlike most countries of the world. the United States operates under a quota system whereby approximately 154.000 quota immigrants may be received annually. for permanent residence into the United States. chiefly from European countries. In addition. immigrants are also received for permanent residence on a nonquota basis without numerical restriction. This group consists largely of immigrants from the Western Hemisphere and of relatives of citizens of the United States. In addition our laws provide for the admission without numerical limitation of persons on a temporary basis. During the war years. our Government established special administrative agencies which were charged with the responsibility of rescuing victims of enemy operation and special administrative processes were established to expedite their admission into the United States. Two such agencies were the Presidents Advisory Committee on Political Refugees which was created in July 1940. and the War Refugee Board which was established by Executive order of the President on January 22. 1944. Although our general immigration laws do not provide specific categories for refugees and displaced persons. reliable official and semiofficial estimates are available respecting the numbers of displaced persons who were admitted immediately prior to and during the war years. Now with reference to the authenticity of the statistics which I shall submit with reference to the number of displaced persons who have been received into the United States. may I first quote from a publication entitled "Refugees in America." which was published in 1947. by Maurice Davie. Congressman CELLER testified before our subcommittee that he considered Mr. Davie to be a competent. capable. and eminent author. Beginning on page 26 of Mr. Davies publication appears the following language with reference to the displaced persons who were admitted into the United States during the war years: "If we now combine the estimates of both immigrant and nonimmigrant refugees. we may conclude that the United States has offered permanent refuge since 1933 to between 240.000 and 320.000 individuals and temporary refuge to between 200.000 and 300.000. The weight of evidence inclines toward the smaller and more refined of these estimates. It therefore seems reasonable to conclude: (1) That approximately 250.000 refugees had been admitted up to June 30. 1944. for permanent residence. (2) that approximately 200.000 refugees were admitted for temporary stay. and (3) that of the latter approximately 15.000 were still here at the close of the fiscal year 1944." Even Earl G. Harrison. whom I have previously identified as the chairman of the Citizens Committee on Displaced Persons. in an address on February 18. 1944. estimated the number of refugees actually admitted to the United States during the 10 years of the Nazi regime. 193443. to be somewhere between 200.000 and 300.000. Assistant Secretary of State Breckenridge Long estimated that we had authorized and issued some 580.000 visas for victims of persecution by the Hitler regime. The Common Council for American Unity estimated that we received 279.649 refugee immigrants for the period 193443. The national refugee service estimated there had been. from January 1. 1933. to June 30. 1943. 270.919 refugee arrivals. including immigrants and nonimmigrants. Mr. Davie. whom I have previously quoted. further states that the Immigration and Naturalization Service has estimated the number of refugees admitted during the fiscal years ending June 30. 193443. to be 279.091 immigrants and 228.068 nonimmigrants. And now let us consider the statistics of admissions into the United States of displaced persons during the period since the cessation of hostilities. A Presidents directive of December 22. 1945. set aside 90 percent of the nonpreference portion of the quotas of certain European countries for exclusive use of displaced persons then in Germany.