Speech #840100558

Mr. President. I now wish to proceed with a discussion of the refugee and immigration policy of the present administration. I do not wish at this time to engage in a running battle with the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary. the honorable Senator from West Virginia . However. if his remarks which appeared in the RECORD of Saturday of last week are left unexplained or unanswered. they would tend to throw the full burden on the administration for the lack of accomplishment in the field of immigration legislation in the 84th Congress. To this date I have refrained from making any statement in this body on that subject. but I feel compelled to make a few short remarks to set the record straight. The Eisenhower administration takes the very definite position that amendments to the Refugee Relief Act of 1953 are both necessary and proper and are urgently needed at this first session of the 84th Congress if the peoples of the world who are seeking to qualify under the act are ever to be admittedas was the intention of the administration and the Congress. I am sure. I refer to action in this first sessionalthough. of course. that is beyond our power at this time. But I wish to set the record straight regarding the policy of the administration. so far as I understand it. The Senator from West Virginia placed in the RECORD a long statement which had been prepared. it was in reference to the President and the policy of the administration on the McCarran Act. and also regarding refugees. as I recall. Let me review some of the history of the matter. for just a moment. The McCarran Act became effective in December 1953. a little over 1 month before Mr. Eisenhower was sworn in as President of the United States. In his state of the Union message. the President referred to the immigration problem. and said something would have to be doneas I recall the messageto liberalize the act. Sometime later I wrote the President a letter. in which I urged him. if he had in mind any specific legislation. to call it to the attention of Congress as soon as possible. so that Congress could get to work on it. In the letter I called attention to the fact that the McCarran Act had then been in operation only about 1 month. and that at that time it was entirely too soon to be able to determine how it would operate in the fieldthat is to say. when persons would apply to our consular offices for permission to come to the United States as immigrants. I thought we should have more experience with the act before any revision of it was undertaken. I took that position for the reason that the act was carefully studied by the Congress. it had been considered for approximately 6 years by committees of the two Houses. and also had been passed over the veto of President Truman by the twothirds vote.