Speech #840233346

I assure you. I would also like to recall that I served for some years as DirectorGeneral of the United 14993Nations Relief and Rehabilitation AdministrationUNRRA. I was the first DirectorGeneral. and in that capacity I was responsible for the program to relieve the hunger and sufferings of millions of refugees and dislocated persons during and following World War II. We set up refugee camps all over Europe and the Middle East. We fed people by the millions. We arranged for their migration to other parts of the world which were ready to receive these displaced persons. I have seen countless thousands of refugees with my own eyes. I think I know. to some extent. what it means to be a refugee. There is nothing more heartrending and more appealing to the humanitarian instincts in all of us. than the sight of a refugee camp. So let us look at the legislation before us in human terms. It should not be just a matter of statistics. of visas issued. or aliens admitted. No. it should be a question of succoring hundreds and thousands of homeless persons--of persons who have gone through the hell of war and of displacement. of individuals who have survived slave labor camps and who have escaped from the unbelievable tyranny and indignity of Communist rule. I would like to digress at this point from the subject of the refugee relief program and say a few words concerning our basic immigration and citizenship laws. To me the question of the refugee program is collateral to the more fundamental question of amending the McCarranWalter Immigration and Naturalization Act. As you know. the refugee program must work within the framework of the restrictions and regulations of our basic immigration law. In my opinion. this is one of the reasonsnot the only one. by any means--why the refugee program has not been more effective. I hope that we can make the refugee program work by amending itand then get on with the major problemthat of amending our basic immigration laws. There is one major administrative action which I believe must be taken to achieve the major purpose of the refugee program. The President and the Secretary of State can and should direct the responsible officials to turn the present cumbersome program into a "crash" program. Such a directive from the President would do a great deal to change the attitude of many of the officials connected with this program who have. until now. insisted that this legislation was merely permissive and really did not mean that refugees had to be admitted into the United States. Yes. some changes in administrative attitude are necessary. if this program is to be snatched from the brink of failure. It is a fact that until the recent furor over the firing of Mr. Edward Corsi. no one in the administration seemed particularly concerned with the failure or success of the program. Fortunately for our Nation. and for the refugees. Mr. Corsi had the courage to stand up and call attention to the failure of the program. I do not know that in the last few weeks there has been an unusual flurry of activity on the part of the officials responsible for the operation of this program. Mr. Chairman. one of the spokesmen for the administration who came before this committee some time ago and tried to explain the delays which have occurred in carrying out the operations of the Refugee Relief Act compared the processing of the applicants under the act as an automobile production line. The analogy with automobile production seems to come easily to the officials of this administration. for some reason or other. It was explained that the slowness in issuing visas was due to the fact that it took time to establish a production line. Mr. Chairman.