Speech #810189686

The Senator from New York will yield at the conclusion of his remarks. when he will be glad to answer any questions the Senator from Indiana wishes to put to him. I commend to the Senate a reading of subchapter II of title 8 of the United States Code. especially sections 136 and 137. which list 25 or more causes for exclusion of immigrants under the ordinary immigration laws. The Displaced Persons Commission has no jui.sdiction under these laws. Some few of these causes for nonadmission are repeated In the Displaced Persons Act and amplified. but the great bulk of the reasons for nonadmissibility. and certainly those which make for a poor security risk. are under the sole jurisdiction of the consular and Immigration Services The Displaced Persons Commission has final authority only over the question of whether the displaced person is actually a displaced person. In this matter the Displaced Persons Commission has reviewing and veto power over the IRO. and that is right and proper. IMisstatement No. 10: In the first paragraph of column 2. on page 2636. the Senator from Mississippi states that the United States is the only country in the world receiving displaced persons which does not. through its own officials and employees. select the displaced persons for admission into its country as immigrants. This is a gross misstatement by implication. The implication is that United States officials do not actually select the displaced persons who are allowed to enter the United States. but that.. instead. the IRO docs soor. in the words so frequently repeated by the distinguished Senator from Mississippi. that "Displaced persons select displaced persons." This is wholly incorrect. The fact that IRO officials and employeessome of whom may be displaced personshelp the displacedperson applicants to make up their papers and documents is about as significant as the fact that an applicant for immigration to the United States as a quota immigrant may ask another to make up his papers of application for admission into the United States. Those papers are merely applications. Multiple sets of United States officials go over these papers. and at least four United States officials investigate the applicants. with personal interviews. Not only of the applicants but of his neighbors. The International Refugee Organization merely serves as a service body to certify the applicant as fulfilling certain requirements agreed to under an international accord to which the United States has officially subscribed. But the United States Government. through the Displaced Persons Commission. makes the determination as to whether the person is actually a displaced person. and the State Department and Justice Department make the determination a to whether the applicant is admissible and is a good security risk. What better proof is there of this than the fact. as I have already indicated. that the Displaced Persons Commission rejects or disqualifies at the very first step. 29 percent of all the names certified by the International Refugee Organization. Misstatement No. 11: The Senator from Mississippi. in paragraph 1. column 3. on page 2636. quotes a consular official as saying that a displaced person sitting before the consul. whom the consul knows to have fraudulent papers and to be a bad security risk. cannot be barred by the consul from entering the United States. Mr. President. if the Senator from Mississippi quoted the consul correctly. the Senator from Mississippi should be moving heaven and earth to have that consul discharged as derelict in his duty under the law. andto quote the Senator from Mississippia perpetrator of moral treason against the United States. That consul. in the full exercise of his powers. may and must refuse to issue such a person a visa. That is his original function. his original responsibility. The record is perfectly clear on that point. The consuls have. and exercise. authority to refuse visas to any displaced person for any material fraud. whether it relates to eligibility or admissibility. Misstatement 12: The Senator from Mississippi states that according. to his interpretation of the testimony of Mr. Tripp. who is Chief of the Immigration and Naturalization Service detail in Europe. the Immigration and Naturalization Service has the power to bar an ordinary immigrant for any purpose. but not a displaced person. I repeat the words of the Senator from Mississippi. "for any purpose." The Senator from Mississippi went on to say that in the case of a displaced person. the Immigration and Naturalization Service does not have that power. but only the Displaced Persons Commission has that power. Mr. President. if either the Displaced Persons Commission or the consular service has the right to bar a wouldbe immigrant "for. any purpose." for any reason. this is the first time the junior Senator from New York has known of it. I had always had the impression that our Immigration Service was guided by certain laws. the immigration laws. It is not a fact that ai. immigration official can bar someone for any trivial reason. The truth is that the reasons for barring immigrants are set down very clearly and precisely in the laws of the United States. No other reasons will do. Mr. President. the truth is that under the Displaced Persons Act our Immigration Service and our consular service have all the power that they ever had under our ordinary immigration laws. and much more. Even the Senator from Mississippi admitted that the consuls have full authority to refuse visas to displaced persons who are Communists. The consular officials have the same authority where the displaced person has proved his eligibility by fraud. The same power resides in the Immigration Service. The Immigration Service or the consular service can and must. under the law. bar anyone known to be an anarchist. an advocate of violent revolution. a publisher or writer concerning such doctrines. or a criminal or falsifier. a forger. an embezzler. or anyone who is a poor security risk. The Immigration Service can and does pass tentative judgment on whether the applicant is even a genuine displaced person under the Displaced Persons Act. but the final word on this is. of course. reserved to the Displaced Persons Commission. subject to final veto by the Immigration Service. in cases of fraud. The function of the Displaced Persons Commission. under the public law now in force. is to decide on eligibility. and that alone. That would also be their function under the substitute measure.