Speech #810183820

There are a number of aspects of this procedure which I shall describe in greater detail at a later point in my remarks. For the present. however. I wish to call attention to the fact that four agencies of the United States Government are Involved. namely. the Displaced Persons Commission. the United States Public Health Service. the Consular Service. and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. I also wish to emphasize that the procedure includes one international agency. namely. the International Refugee Organization. and. in most cases. at least one voluntary agency. At the hazard of repetition. I say again. Mr. President. and wish to reemphasize the point. that the procedure includes one international agency. namely. the International Refugee Organization. I wish emphatically to call attention to the last two agencies. the IRO and the voluntary agencies. because neither of these agencies is subject to Government regulation. control. or direction by the United States. I emphasize this fact because the most important steps in qualifying a displaced person for immigration to the United States are taken by these two agencies. and that comes about by reason of section 2 (b) of the present law. A brief reference to the act will disclose that a displaced person is therein defined to be a person as defined in annex I to the constitution of the International Refugee Organization. and who is the concern of the International Refugee Organization. I hope Senators will follow closely my remarks on this point. Without going into all the ramifications of annex I. permit me to say that it is one of the most complex collections of words that could be drafted. Every section is so interrelated with one or more other sections that it is impossible to state with certainty who will qualify as a displaced person. If Senators will but glance at annex I. they will see constant reference to minutes of sundry meetings held by various committees or subcommittees of the International Refugee Organization on various dates. the contents of which are unknown to officials of our Government administering the program in Europe. Therefore. under the administration of the present act. the most important determination to be made. namely. qualification of status as a displaced person is made by an International organization which is not responsible to the Government of the United States or to any of its officials. This organization employs a large staff of alien personnel. who In most instances are themselves displaced persons.