Speech #840031970

In the 37 or more years since. he has lived an exemplary life. working hard. raising a family. and investing several thousands of dollars from his modest earnings in United States war bonds. Last year he made a pleasure trip to the old country. with a reentry permit issued by the United States Government in his pocket. When he returned. he was detained by the immigration authorities in New York. and put on parole. pending the determination of exclusion proceedings. All because of an offense that was committed and paid for long. long ago. and one that had no connection with communism or subversion. Eventually. after much mental anguish prolonged by months of redtape. he was told that he would be allowed to return to his home in Massachusetts. As he said to me: "I thought that by serving time for my offense. and having been on good behavior ever since. that I would never be placed in double jeopardy. but the immigration laws made me sweat it out for a whileall over again37 years later." This overstrict enforcement is putting fear into the hearts of many aliens who are beginning to wonder if the door that opens for them when they want to take a trip overseas will be shut in their faces when they come back. The searching light of investigation should be turned not on innocent people but into the motives behind. and the operations of. the Immigration Act and the Refugee Relief Act. When it comes to actual admissions. there is a strange flexibility in the figures. One report states that out of 190.000 refugees authorized to enter the United States since the President signed the Refugee Relief Act over 18 months ago. less than 2.000 have been cleared for entrance. During the same period. more than 16.000 visas have been issued to relatives of American citizens. On the other hand. the United States Embassy at Rome is quoted as having issued 16.394 visas under the refugee relief program. but only 289 of these went to persons who had escaped from behind the Iron Curtain. The program originally called for the issuance of about 60.000 visas in Italy. It is rumored that the Italian Government has implored our State Department to relieve the inhuman existence these refugees must endure while they are waiting. The mystery is compounded by the forced departure of the man who was appointed by the United States Government to speed up refugee admissions. Italy. with whom we share a deep and abiding friendship. is the chief victim of our shortsighted immigration policy and its maladministration. Suffering from the pressures of overpopulation. and beset by Communist infiltration which thrives on human misery. Italy looks to us for hope and mutual assistance only to be frustrated by a quota blockade that is deceitful. outmoded. and without mercy. A foreign policy without compassion for libertyloving people who desperately seek a haven here is stubbornly rejecting its greatest asset. We realize of course. that we cannot accommodate all of the people who would like to live in the United States. for then we would be overwhelmed by a tidal wave of humanity seeking sanctuary in the new world. This is no reason. however. for going to the other extreme by drawing the immigration curtain tight with fearridden laws that illconceal their racial bias. . Revision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 rates top priority. . Its ancient quotas and restrictions should be illustrated in a museum where naturalized Americans of the future may. pause to wonder why some Americans of 1955 were so distrustful of freedom. and so afraid of themselves.