Speech #870084292

Mr. President. in that regard. we have a responsibility as well as a duty. Communist risktaking as well as Communist denial of real opportunity is resultive in this increased flood of refugees. For us. it should give heart to our determination never to let the hope of freedom expire for the 100 million people in the satellite nations of the Baltic. central Europe. and the Balkans. But there is yet another element in our preparation to meet the Berlin crisis which we have not yet taken or even contemplated. and that is legislation to admit our fair share of refugees and escapees from communism and other tyrannies. The Displaced Persons Act and Refugee Act were magnificent evidences of U.S. leadership. They have now expired. and we are left with little more than an unsatisfactory and improvised procedure for the admittance of refugees and escapees on a parole basis under a provision of the immigration law which was never intended for any such massive problem of world statecraft as we now face. The only law on the books at present for the admittance of refugees and escapees. aside from the normal quota numbers. is Public Law 648. passed last year. All it does is to continue the existing parole procedure. which was found to be so unsatisfactory at the time of the Hungarian crisis. and limit the admission of refugees and escapees under parole to 25 percent of the total number of European refugee escapees resettled annually in other parts of the world. For last year. that number came to about 28.000. However. it does not in any way provide a fixed number or a fixed basis. as was done by the two previous acts which I have mentioned. to enable the United States. through the fairshare principle. to give leadership to this very important and critical problem which is facing the free world. In my opinion. Congress is permitting itself to be controlled in this matter by one committee chairman or perhaps two committee chairmen. and from present appearances there will be no refugee relief legislation under our immigration laws in this session. any more than there has been in the last few years. Let us remember that this is a problem which does not confront only this administration. President Eisenhower asked Congress year after year to pass legislation which would admit as many as 60.000 refugee escapees a year. We know that there is unlikely to be any such law. because even so humane and elementary a statute as the Alien Orphans Act seems to be blocked. notwithstanding the Senates insistence on it. as we showed the other night. when over much opposition the Senate adopted an amendment to a bill on educational exchange. which went to the other body. where it now resides. If ever there was a case for Presidential and congressional leadership to break selfimposed bonds which seem to paralyze us. it is this one for the admission of refugee escapees. especially those from East Germany. The President should urgently and eloquently demand refugee relief as a part of the package to meet the Berlin crisis. and Congress should vote it on its own volition without the selfinhibition of longdelayed committee procedures. We know how to do these things when we want to do them. It is my opinion that we certainly should want to act in this situation. and the piece of proposed legislation in which to do so is ready. at hand.