Speech #810183820

It is important because of the fraudulent documentation which I shall take up later in my remarks. Let us assume. therefore. that a displaced person finds himself in occupied Germany or Austria or Italy and wishes to be resettled in the United States. His first step is to contact a displacedpersons camp which is under the operation of the International Refugee Organization created by the United Nations in 1946. Such person is then questioned by employees of the International Refugee Organization who. in most instances. are displaced persons themselves and of the same nationality as such person. so that they may act as interpreters and assist him in filling out the necessary questionnaire to determine his status under annex I of the constitution of IRO. Thereafter. such person either contacts or is contacted by one of the American voluntary agencies operating in that area. In practice. the voluntary agency. which becomes interested in such person. is of his religious faith. so that if he is a Catholic. be will be contacted by an employee of the National Catholic Welfare Committee. if he is a Jew. it probably will be an employee of the American Joint Distribution Committee or the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. if a Protestant. it will be the Lutheran Church World Federation. or other Protestant voluntary agencies. and so on. depending upon religion. The voluntary agency assists our hypothetical displaced person in establishing his qualifications for immigration to the United States of America and these voluntary agencies are conversant with the specific provisions of our statute. Inasmuch as our act contains a limitation that one coming into Germany. Austria. or Italy from other areas must have done so prior to December 22. 1945. or. if forced to flee from Germany. Austria. or Italy by the dictator regimes. one must have returned prior to January 1. 1948. documentary evidence to support the fact of entrance into these areas prior to December 22. 1945. or fleeing from these areas with return prior to January 1. 1948. is submitted to the IRO when our hypothetical person registers as a displaced person. so that he can qualify for immigration to the United States. Thus. documentation is of two types: First. proof of residence prior to December 22. 1945. which is in the form of a certificate of residence executed by police officials of the area for which residence is claimed. if such area is in the trizone of Germany. or in Austria. or Italy. If such residence is in the Russian zone of Germany. such a c&rtificate cannot be obtained and. therefore. there is no documentation. second. proof of birth in Germany. Austria. or Italy. but. again. if the place of birth given is in the Russian zone of Germany. a birth certificate cannot be obtained. and. therefore. there is no documentation. The International Refugee Organization then certifies the status of our hypothetical individual as a displaced person of the care and concern of the IRO. and certifies the date of entry into Germany. Austria. or Italy. or the place of birth. fact of fleeing. and date of reentry into Germany. Austria. or Italy. The IRO also cettifies the family number. job experience. place of birth. and other pertinent information. which is gotten from the questioning previously mentioned. The next step takes our hypothetical displaced person to a resettlement center operated by the IRO. where he makes his election to immigrate to the United States. which is made known to the Displaced Persons Commission. and is supported by the IRO certifications I have just outlined. The Commission then examines the dates appearing In the IRO certifications. and if they are within the limitations of the act. and if the applicant is certified as being "of the concern of the International Refugee Organization." the applicant is certified by the Commission as eligible to immigrate to the United States. and if entitled to preference under the act. such preference is also certified. Next is a security screen check by the Counter Intelligence Corps of the Army. I shall have more to say on this later in my remarks. If the Counter Intelligence Corps finds nothing of an adverse nature which would establish that the applicant is a security risk to the United States or a known criminal. its report to the commission is usually In the form of "no comment." or "no adverse information." If something adverse is disclosed by the CIC investigation. that information is included in the CIC report. and is evaluated by the commission. If the applicant Is still found to be eligible. his file. including the CIC report and a certification by the commission that he is "eligible." is transmitted to the consular service for issuance of a visa. The applicant then applies to the consular service for a visa. He is given a medical examination by the United States Public Health Service for diseases which might exclude him under the general immigration laws. If approved medically. his case is examined by a consular officer. who is bound by the eligibility certification of the Commission and cannot go behind the Commissions certification unless there is an obvious error. He then is personally interviewed by a consular officer. In the vast majority of cases. this is the first time the applicant has been personally interviewed by an official of the United States Government. Unless the consul discovers some reason why the applicant should be excluded under the general immigration laws. his visa application is approved. and he leaves the resettlement center for Bremen. Until February of this year. the applicant was personally Interviewed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service at Bremen. However. under a recent plan of decentralization. immigration inspectors are now in operation at each of the resettlement centers. where they interview the applicant. This agency is. by instructions. precluded from examining his eligibility under the act. and unless information is developed which would exclude the applicant under the general immigration laws. he leaves for the embarkation center at Bremerhaven. where he will board ship. unless he is a hardship case. in which event he will be flown to the United States. Briefly. Mr.