They are at liberty to add their names to the amendment while it is oil the desk. Mr. President. the Displaced Persons Act. passed by the Eightieth Congress in 1948. was used as the vehicle for amending part of our existing immigration law to provide that onehalf of the German and Austrian immigration quotas should be devoted to admitting into the United States political exiles of German blood from eastern Europe. The combined German and Austrian quotas available to expellees under last years amendment totaled somewhat more than 13.000 persons annually. and after a years experience under that law. we are forced to conclude that the hastily drawn amendment has failed almost completely to achieve the purpose for which it was designed. Instead of issuing a thousand or so visas a month to expellees. as the law provided. less than 700 expellees have reached America thus far in 1949a fact which in itself affords convincing proof that the law has been unworkable. We propose in our amendment. then. to make this annual quota of 13.000 persons a workable quota which will. in fact. admit that number of people. In submitting our amendment at this time. we wish to invite discussion and comment prior to calling up Senate Resolution 160 to discharge the Committee on the Judiciary from further consideration of H. R. 4567. the amendments to the Displaced Persons Act passed by the House of Representatives earlier this session. Our amendment to give us a workable Immigration quota for expellees is aimed at carrying forward in somewhat more express detail an intent set forth in H. R. 4567 at the time it passed in the House. Section 9 of H.
Keywords matched
Immigration immigration visas