Speech #830100534

Department of Labor. and the Department of Agriculture as one primarily arising out of the fact that in the aftermath of the war one vicious brand of totalitarianism succeeded another in oppressing hundreds of millions of people living in Eastern Europe. Stalin and his successors are continuing the work started by Hitler. and people striving for freedom continue to flee from tyranny to the free West. hoping that they can eventually reach haven in a country which would offer them not only full freedom and personal security but also economic opportunities. The constant stream of people fleeing to the West from the terrors of communism. has intensified population pressures which have increased tremendously since the beginning of World War II during which emigration from Europe practically ceased. Political and social problems stemming from the existence of large numbers of unemployed or underemployed people spoken of as surplus population or excess population or overpopulation have been aggravated by the presence of a great number of refugees. particularly in those countries of Europe which we are assisting economically. primarily Italy. Western Germany. Greece. and the Netherlands. Evidence has been presented to the committee that it is most important at the precent time to reduce some of the population backlog created during the war years and aggravated by the continuous influx of escapees and. refugees from countries and areas under Communist domination. Having carefully sifted the testimony presented to us and having gone very carefully over three consecutive committee prints of a proposed bill. the committee now recommends H. R. 6481 to the House and asks that the bill be passed. The bill would admit. outside of annual quotas. 240.000 aliens. including 4.000 orphans. One hundred and twelve thousand of these people are classified in the socalled national groups. embracing 60.000 nationals of Italy. 25.000 Greeks. 25.000 Dutchmen. and 2.000 nationals of Portugal. One hundred and twentyfour thousand persons to be admitted under this act fall in the category ofrefugees and expellees. to wit: 60.000 German expellees. 50.000 refugees of different Eastern European nationalities. 8.000 old DP cases commonly known as pipeline cases. 3.000 exiled veterans of the Polish Army. and 3.000 Europeans who escaped from Communistdominated China. Now I issue a challenge for the purpose of assuring you and if it is not so I ask that it be answered: This bill does not propose to amend or to change one iota of the McCarranWalter bill. 1 challenge the author to say it does. Every alien to be admitted under this bill must be first eligible under the Immigration and Nationality Act and in addition to that. he must meet the more restrictive requirements of this bill. It is proposed that the program be administered by existing agencies. namely. the Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs of the Department of State and the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the Department of Justice. The administrator of the program is given until December 31. 1956. to issue visas to people who could qualify and the operation is to remain under constant supervision of the Joint Committee on Immigration and Nationality Policy established this year under the Immigration and Nationdlity Act. of which the gentleman from Pennsylvania is a member. Mr. Chairman. on the score of what effect this will have on the Nations economy: There are 3.070 counties in the United States. clip off 70 and you have 3.000. that would mean 80 people to each county in the United States.