Speech #840082951

No one but a blind and intolerably stupid fool would deny the unparalled contributions of your people in general. and of the Jewish War Veterans specifically to the defense and security of the United States. But there is another reason for the great honor I feel in being afforded the privilege of addressing this annual encampment. Because I am familiar and deeply interested In the great and humanitarian field of immigration and naturalization. I am constantly aware of the splendid work your organization is doing in its continued leadership and support of efforts to liberalize and humanize our immigration laws and policies. Your fight. independently and collectively. together with the fight of many other loyal and patriotic American organizations is to erase from our statute books the harsh. unjust. and discriminatory provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. commonly known as the McCarranWalter Act. Your fight to remove once and for all the insulting stigma of the national origin theory from our laws and to see our laws reshaped so that they will conform to American ideals. which require equal treatment of A5261 all personsthis fight is truly admirable and worthy of the highest praise and commendation. I. therefore. feel that anyone invited to speak to such a group as yours is indeed the beneficiary of a great honor. But I believe. too. that all fairminded people. aware of world history and of American history. would naturally expect your organization and other American Jewish organizations throughout the United States to lead the fight against the inequities and injustices of our present immigration laws. Your peoples long and wonderful history is in itself a shining beacon of absolute and unwavering steadfastnessa pole star of firm belief in the basic concept of the dignity of man. Your fight is an unshakable and eloquent affirmation of the inalienable and undeniable language of the Declaration of Independencethat all men are created equal. You so properly believe that each individual is to be judged on his own meritor demerit. That each individual is capable of possessing equal mentality. intelligence and capabilities regardless of his race. religious creed. national origin or color. and that persons living abroad and behind the Iron Curtain. whether they are refugees. escapees. expellees or just plain. ordinary worthy aliens in quest of an opportunity to live in this land. are not to be judged accordingly to breed. like cattlebut on the only proper basis of their character. fitness and ability to lead a worthwhile life in this country. Now this brings me to the subject I should like to discuss with you here at Mount Freedom (which. incidentally. Is a very appropriate name and a most appropriate meeting place for your splendid organization). The subject of immigration and naturalization is very close to my heart. and. I know. very close to yours. The heart of our present immigration law is the national origin quota system. an indigestible and unAmerican theory now being practiced upon all applications for immigrant visas. This formula was first introduced into our law in 1924 and has been retained in the McCarran Act. our present immigration law. This theory asserts briefly that intending immigrants to the United States from the western part of Europe are more desirable. more assimilable. and are of a stock that will produce better American citizens than people who were born in the eastern and southeastern parts of Europe. This insulting formula. based on bias and prejudice and not on logic or reason. admits a total of approximately 150.000 people per year and fixes maximum quotas for each country. These quotas range from 100 to 65.000 annually. Now. exactly how was this formula established? Each countrys quota was allocated so that it would be equal to the percentage that persons of that national origin residents in the United States in the year 1920 was of the total white population of the United States at that time. Well. if the law enacted by the Congress in 1954 was a formula based on percentage as of the year 1920then why in 1952. when our immigration laws were completely overhauled. didnt the Congress fix the year 1948or 1952 as the basis? The reasonsreasons of discrimination. prejudice. and distrust against certain nations and faces in favor of otherswere stated quite forcefully by the late Senator McCarran himself in debate on his immigration bill on May 16. 1952. "The cold hard truth is that in the United States today there are hard core indigestible blocs who have not become integrated into the American way of life. but who. on the contrary. are its deadly enemy." Senator McCarran did not specify from which nations the indigestible blocs were coming. but if we examine the United States immigration quotas allocated to each nation. as set forth in our present law. we can clearly discover what nations Senator McCarran had in mind. The annual quota of the United Kingdom (England and North Ireland) is 65.361. Germany. 52.814.