Immigration of Refugees

Report Outline
Immigration of Refugees
Proposals to Moderate Present Restrictions
Opposition to Increased Immigration
Displaced Persons as a World Problem
Special Focus

Immigration of Refugees

Liberlization Vs. Tightened Restricion

Contradictory Proposals for revision of the immigration laws will be placed before the new Congress when it meets for its first session in January. President Truman will recommend that Congress “authorize the United States to do its full part” in accepting European refugees. Administration bills will propose moderation of present restrictions to facilitate the admission of displaced persons to the United States. Bills offered from other sources will propose a general tightening of present restrictions, and some voices will be raised in favor of a temporary stoppage of all immigration to the United States.

Arguments for and against liberalization of the immigration policies put into force after World War I will cover much familiar ground, but on both sides of the question there will be a new sense of urgency. Temporary shortages of many consumer goods and the pressing need of housing for war veterans will be cited as compelling reasons for prohibiting any considerable influx of immigrants at this time. And it will be urged by those who fear that a postwar depression is just around the corner that increased admissions to the United States would serve only to enlarge the accompanying unemployment.

Advocates of freer immigration will point to the approaching end of European operations by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. Even if the presently projected International Refugee Organization has started work by 1947, it cannot be expected to provide adequate care for hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced persons for an indefinite period.