Speech #820244835

Poland. and Yugoslavia. As for nations like Estonia. Latvia. and Lithuania. now behind the iron curtain. the excuse is made that there is no need for immigration legislation in their favor. but I am concerned about refugees from those countries and that in the displacedpersons legislation their quotas have been frozen for years to come. Our regular immigration legislation prevents even a single Austrian from comning here before 1955. any Latvian before 2074. no Lithuanians can be admitted before 2087. and not one Pole before 1999. The only hope refugees from those countries have in gaining entrance to the United States is by special legislation which would remove immigration restrictions. the McCarran bill continues to freeze all quotas originally included in the Displaced Persons Act. As the leading nation of the world. we have held ourselves out to be democratic. generous. and in sympathy with the oppressed peoples of other nations who seek shelter within our boundaries. Passage of the Displaced Persons Act and its amendments bore out our kindly intentions. Enactment of the McCarranWalter bill. with its glaring inequities and prejudices. will greatly jeopardize our standing among nations. and our international relations are bound to suffer. This omnibus immigration bill also fails to provide adequate protection to those threatened with deportation. there is not effective provision for hearings held in deportation cases. It makes it far too easy for the Immigration Bureau to deport people. it would pave the way for the Attorney General to deport an alien for any one of a variety of causes. or to denaturalize a person who may have been a United States citizen for years. The persons affected and being proceeded against are entitled to a fair hearing and necessary protection should be given them under the law. Our country became great because we opened wide the doors to all who wished to come. Peoples from every country have contributed to our growth. culture. and strength. There should be equality for all in the immigration laws we passone nation should not be placed above another. We can affo~d to continue to be generous. Certainly. our aim should be to eliminate the inequities and prejudices in our present immigration lawsnot to enhance them. Enactment of this bill will damage our standing as a nation. it will saddle us with poor. unfair. discriminatory laws. it will cause untold hardship to countless persons. Indeed. the bill. considering all its provisions. would be a step backward and not a step forward.