THE TRUTH ABOUT THE IMMIGRATION ACT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP60-00442R000100070009-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2002
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: January 1, 1953
• Content Type: OPEN

R
Approved For Releas / / 00442R000100070009-8
A
OUT
THE IMMIGRATION
CRYR.HT
By Representative Francis E. Walter
};Ew domestic pro ems
future of the United
States than immigration. Few hotter
issues face Congress and the Ad-
ministration than the McCarran-
Walter Act, which, last December,
became our basic immigration law.
Why has this law been so bitterly
Some of the attack has been po-
idea of some politicians that a bars-
down immigration law is the way to
win votes from so-called "minority
groups" in this country. Some of the
attack - the most vicious and vio-
lent part of it - has been led by
Communist and left-wing organiza-
tions rightly fearful of its more rigid
the campaign to discredit Chiang
FRANCis E. WALTER, Democratic Repre-
126
ACT
Kai-shek and prepare the way for
the Communist conquest of China
have leftist forces in the United
States been so aggressively united as
in opposition to this law.
The campaign of misrepresenta-
tion which these forces have loosed
is without parallel in recent legis-
lative history. As a result, some
newspapers, commentators and nu-
merous organizations have been
grossly misled into joining the oppo-
sition. Hearing and reading their
wholly unjustified attacks on the
law, I am sure of one thing: They
have never read it.
What is the background of this
law? Both of its authors are Demo-
crats. The House and Senate sub-
committees charged with the bill's
preparation each had five Democrats
and four Republicans. In both sub-
committees the vote for the bill was
unanimous.
For the bipartisan support which
the measure finally won, much credit
must go to the members of both
House and Senate committees and
particularly to Senator McCarran,
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 CPYRGHT
Ap
and composed. "Well," she said,
"you know that big rocking chair
in my room? Every afternoon, no
matter how busy I am, I go up there
to rock a while and empty out my
Sometimes, however, we need to
empty out more than our brains; we
need to pour out our soul. This is the
"strength and beauty are in His
sanctuary." You can find them by
stopping at your own church before
facing the humdrum of a busy day.
On a business trip you can find sanc-
tuary by slipping into some shrine
like the Meditation Chapel in New
York's Biltmore Hotel. You may
discover it kneeling in a hospital
chapel praying for a dear one, or on
the high seas - on.a troopship or in
the miniature cathedral aboard the
There come times to all of us
when, in our desperate need, no holy
ground in nature, no lonely place
apart, no sanctum of man seems to
give sanctuary.
When disaster strikes on British
Navy vessels they instantly blow
"The Still." It means: "Prepare to
do the wise thing."
When the signal is3,rped, few mien"'
know the wise thing. But in the
moments of calm enforced by that
signal they find it. Each man calcu-
lates his position and checks his re-
sources. By observing "The Sti"ll"
they rout confusion and frequently
avert catastrophe.
So with our personal emergencies.
Few of us instantly know the wise
thing. "If only I could know what
to do!" we cry, forgetting that the
order of procedure is: Be still!
No matter how little you know,
or even how little you think you
have faith to believe, the next time
you need sanctuary stop instantly
all feverish activity and do what
those who have found sanctuary do:
"Be still and know.. ."
Countless hard-pressed men and
women find in religion their "place
of certain shelter" when their hearts
cry for spiritual sanctuary. We are
again laying hold on the central real-
ity that all religion offers: "God is
our refuge and strength, a very pres-
ent help in trouble."
Reprints of this article are available.
Prices, postpaid to one address: 10 - 25
cents; 50-31-15; 100-$2; 500-$q;
Iooo - $14. Address Reprint Editor, The
Reader's Digest, Pleasantville, N. Y.
pQ Fare Enough
C/'N PITTSBURGH, a woman pulled alongside a parked taxi and motioned the
driver to follow her. He trailed her out one of the boulevards until she
turned into a driveway and drove into a garage. Then she came out and
got into the cab. "Now, take me to Horne's Department Store " she said
Ap jrovd V eas 2O(3t26plaGlA-6II,00 AOQ.cj.(Qa70009-4
 CPYRGHT 7xE TRUTH ABOUT rrlc IMMIGRATION ACT
A
who gave %qdblc leadership in the
preparation and passage of the Act.
The House vote on the bill was
206 for, 68 against. The favorable
vote in the Senate was unrecorded.
President Truman vetoed the
bill. Congress speedily overrode his
veto by 278 to 113 in the House,
57 to 26 in the Senate.
is it true, as charged, that the
McCarran-Walter Act is "hysterical"
legislation which was "rushed through
Congress"?
The nearly five years of hearings,
investigations and research which
went into the preparation of this
law are said to he the longest period
ever devoted to a single piece of
legislation in the history of Congress.
Public testimony, for and against,
was taken from nearly iooo persons:
experts, Government officials, repre-
sentatives of all of the groups con-
cerned with the problem.
The two federal agencies directly
responsible for administering immi-
gration and naturalization laws the Departments of State and Jus-
tice - both set up committees of
experts which gave continuous aid
to the joint committee.
This long process of preparation
was due to the determination of
Senator McCarran and myself and
the members of our committees that
our bill, insofar as humanly possible,
should be sound and workable and
for the best interests of our country.
As a result, the Act -a document
of 300 pages - was put through
six complete revisions. The result-
iistory, caries arr oames an or
our previous hundreds of immigra-
tion enactments into a single law.
The Departments of State and
justice both endorsed the bill as
finally written. So did the Central
Intelligence Agency. The head of
the Immigration and Naturalization
Service called it "a desirable revision
of our immigration and naturaliza-
tion laws." No Government agency
opposed it.
President Truman, in his attempt
last fall to deliver the votes of
"minority groups," appointed a Spe-
cial Commission on Immigration.
The report of this commission has
given new force to the drive to dis-
credit the McCarran-Walter Act.
"From beginning to end," the com-
mission concludes, "the act must be
rewritten."
What is the truth about this law?
Is it, as charged, "reactionary," 'fas-
cist," "racist"?
The facts are that, in important
particulars, it is the most liberal im-
migration law in U. S. history.
For the first time, all racial bars
to immigration arc removed. Asiatic
countries are given annual immi-
grant quotas determined by the
same formula as quotas for Europe.
For the first time, all racial bars
to naturalization are removed. Thus,
85,000 Orientals now living in the
United States and Hawaii, hereto-
fore ineligible for citizenship, may
become citizens.
"This bill," said Congressman
Walter II. Judd, former medical
Alp4kiffor release Zfil u(~~)63~)2~`ir C~i~1WbPk 00442aR'000100070009-8
 CP 'RGHT __ THE READER'S DIGEST Afay
stroke, the remaining racial dis-
criminations in our nationality and
immigration laws which have so
greatly contributed to ill feeling in
many parts of the world."
For the first time, provision is
made to permit the quota-free en-
trance of the alien wives, husbands
and children of U. S. citizens. The
national president of the YWCA
testified before the Senate-House
Committee: "We are delighted that
the proposed revisions of the law are
designed to further the preservation
of family units."
For the first time, the doctrine
"Once a Communist always a Com-
munist" is rejected. A "redemptive"
clause in the law makes eligible for
entry ex-Communists who have
proved a bona fide change of heart.
A spokesman for the American
Civil Liberties Union said: "I want
to express our agreement with the
principle that past membership in
either Communist or other totali-
tarian organizations will not forever
be a bar to immigration into the
United States."
Is it true, as charged, that the im-
migration Act introduces "new forms
of racial discrimination" which make
it "an insult to all Asia"?
On the contrary, Asia, for the
first time, is on a basis of equality.
Special provision, however, had to
be made for Asiatics residing out-
side Asia. There are 6oo,ooo persons
of Asiatic descent living in Central
and South America, in countries for
which there is no numerical limita-
)proved For Release 2003/03/25
entered into an agreement with fa-
pan to admit 50,000 Japanese nation-
als. To maintain the fairness of the
quota system, the law now provides
that such persons must enter the
United States under the quota of
the country of their racial origin.
This restriction was prepared with
the active assistance of representa-
tives of organizations of Asiatics in
the United States. Every such im-
portant organization has gone on
record endorsing the McCarran-
Walter Act.
Is it true, as charged, that the new
law "reduces the flow of immigrants
to a trickle"?
With more generous provision for
certain nonquota groups, and with
quotas granted, for the first time, to
i r Asiatic countries, the total annual
immigration to the United States is
increased by a possible 25 percent --
from 155,000 to approximately
200, 000
Is it trite, as charged, that the Im-
migration Act "narrows the gateway
to the United States" by requiring that
50 percent of immigrants "inust be
persons of high education, specialized
experience or exceptional ability"?
The law ends the old policy of
accepting immigrants on the basis
of "first come, first served." It es-
tablishes a policy of selectivity-
similar to that of every other immi-
grant-receiving nation-aimed to
secure those immigrants most likely
to fit usefully into our economy and
culture. To that end it sets tip three
categories of immigrants: persons of
: CIA-RDP60-00442RU00100070
 * CP9Y#ZGHT THE TRUTH ABOUT THE IMMIGRATION ACT 529
tives of American citizens; other the Washington Zws, "that this
immigrants. country can become a sanctuary for
Fifty percent of each quota is re- `most' of these people. To lower our
served for the first - the skilled - immigration bars will not solve this
category. The choice, here, is made problem but only create a problem
as a result of specific requests by of our own."
U. S. employers to the Attorney Should our immigration policy, as
General. If, for example, dyemakers proposed by the Truman commis-
are in short supply, companies need- sion, be "flexible enough to relieve
ing such skilled labor appeal to the overpopulation" and "permit the
Department of Justice, which, United States to engage fully in such
through the U. S. Employment Serv- migration efforts as may be impor-
ice, verifies the need and instructs tant to the security of the free
our overseas representatives to give world"?
preferred status to such workers. In Europe alone overpopulation
The law, however, does not pre- has been estimated as high as 79,-
scribe that 5o percent must be from ooo,ooo. Yet every year Europe's
that first category. If there arc population increases by another 3,-
fewer than 50 percent of such per- 000,000. A present proposal aims to
sons on the list, then the quota is move out 5,000,000 people in the
filled, as far as possible, from the next ten years - not noticeably af-
second category. After those cate- fccting the problem.
gories have been cleared, the re- "The United States," says the
maining number are automatically New York World-Telegram, "should
assigned to the third category. do all it can to assist these people in
Is it true, as charged, that the new finding new homes in areas of oppor-
law "blunts one of our most impor- tunity. But this country has long
tant psychological weapons in the cold since passed the point where it can
war" by preventing most of the people operate under a policy of unrestricted
who escape f rom behind the Iron Cur- immigration, which is virtually what
fain from reaching their hoped for some people are seeking."
refuge in the United States? Last year I was a U. S. delegate
Of the more than i,ooo,ooo Eu- to the meeting in Brussels which set
ropean refugees resettled by the up a 26-nation Organization for the
International Refugee Organization, Movement of Refugees from Eu-
one out of three has been taken by rope. Our Government, I am proud
the United States. Yet today, in to say, is taking the lead in attacking
West Germany alone, there arc that problem. We must continue
10,ooo,ooo refugees from Commu- and increase our support for that
nism. In other free areas of Europe work.
there are probably that many more. We must also, if the need arises,
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 CP) RGHT THE READER'S DIGEST May
se 0009-8
p gency legislation. - as we have done With these and other. acts, befo
during and since the war. But such us, we wrote a law which makes t
special and emergency provisions tougher for aliens to get into th s
should not be a part of our basic country illegally. It makes it a cri
immigration law. for them to conceal their illeg 1
Is it true, as charged, that the new law status. It sets up better machiner
"makes easy the deportation of thou- for deporting them. It provides that
sands of worthy people"; that "it naturalized citizens can be denat
makes denaturalization a daily pos- ralized and deported if, within fiv
sibility for naturalized citizens"? years of their naturalization, the
The Immigration Act excludes join in subversive activity.
from the United States any alien But the new law also provide,
whose presence would endanger the that in every deportation case
public safety. It provides for the hearing is mandatory and appeal t
deportation of any alien who en- the courts is permitted. It also pro
gages in activities endangering the vides that in every case involvin
public safety. the revocation of citizenship th
Back of these provisions is a prob- courts - and only the courts - ca
lem of serious proportions. At pres- make the decision. In addition t
ent there are from 3,000,000 to this procedure the writ of habea
5,000,000 aliens illegally in the corpus is available.
United States. Deportation orders Frank L. Auerbach, immigratio
had already been issued for thou- expert in the Department of State
sands of these persons. But, because says: "The procedural safeguards of
of loopholes in the old law, these forded by the new act to an alien sub
orders were unenforceable. As a re- jcct to deportation are greater tha
suit, thousands of criminals and sub- those enjoyed under the old law."
versive aliens are roaming our streets, Aiming for a laxer law, the ene
a continuing threat to the safety of mies of the Immigration Act cente
our country. their heaviest attack on the na
Another equally startling fact: tional-origins quota system - the
The then U. S. Attorney General basis of our present policy. That sys
presented to our committee an tem, said Mr. Truman, "breathe
analysis of approximately 5000 "of prejudice against the foreign-born."
the more militant members of the To the Truman commission it i
Communist Party." This analysis "racial and religious discrimination."
showed that 95.5 percent of them The national-origins quota sys-
were either of foreign birth, married tem has been basic to our immigra-
to persons of foreign With or born tion policy since 5924. Under it the
of foreign parents, and that over half United States has admitted, since
of them traced their origins either to 5929, nearly 5,000,000 immigrants.
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 6 Fi r R Lasr-d 310 5 1"614 W -db 11
00100070609-8
iroug e- use of an es ,
uniform formula or rule of law, that
system is designed to do four things:
To limit the annual number of
quota immigrants who can come to
the United States;
To determine the nationality of
those who come so as to maintain the
historic population pattern of the
United States;
To put all quota nations on an
equal footing;
To keep the immigration problem
beyond the reach of politics and
pressure groups.
By the national-origins formula,
the number of quota immigrants
from each country is limited to one
sixth of one percent of the inhabit-
ants of the United States who in
1920 traced their origins to that par-
ticular country. That works out to
an annual total, from 85 countries,
of 154,657 immigrants -- exclusive
of nonquota immigrants.
By this system the number from
each country is determined by math-
ematicians, not politicians.
Since the 1920 population of the
United States was predominantly of
West and North European origin,
the countries in those areas have the
largest quotas. The countries of
Southern and Eastern Europe have
smaller quotas. Thus the annual
total for Ireland (Eire) is 17,756,
whereas that for Poland is 6488; for
Belgium, 1297, but for Greece, 308.
The largest quotas are 65,361 for
Great Britain and Northern Ireland; up their annual quotas and would it
2 81 for Germany. not be a good policy to distribute those
G _
ence Monitor:
"We believe it is a mistake to
condemn any quota system based on
national origins as inherently illib-
eral and an expression of religious or
racial prejudice. It is no reflection
on the many fine American citizens
of all races, creeds and national ori-
gins to recognize realistically that
some nations arc far closer to the
United States in culture, custom and
standard of living, respect for law
and experience in self-government."
What is the alternative proposed
by the Truman commission?
Instead of a national-origins quota
system it proposes "a unified quota
system.
That system would provide no
uniform, nonpolitical means for
determining the source of immigra-
tion. It would vest in "an adminis-
trative agency" appointed by the
President the vast power of choosing
among nationalities.
Thus, this highly explosive prolf-
lcm would be brought within easy
reach of politics and special-interest
pressures. Instead of the present sys
tem under which "quotas are defi-
nite and automatically resist the
pressure of special groups," says the
New York Herald Tribune, we would
have a system where "quotas arc in-
definite and automatically invite
such pressures."
Is it not true that some countries,
most notably Great Britain, do not use
4proveMIFd e"et OW611191FCIA!-' 'P f!60W AU061660 5009-8
 CPzYRGHT
}y y, to e -
ple desire to come than, on their quotas,
are permitted?
Our joint committee of seven
Senators and seven Representatives
gave this problem serious-study over
many months. The question before
us was simply this: By what means,
free from political pressures, could
these unused quotas be distributed?
To this question we were given
two answers. The first was: Give the
numbers to the nation where there
was the greatest pressure to come.
That country, we found, was China.
The second answer was: Distribute
the unused quotas on a basis of first
come, first served. That proposal,
we concluded, was administratively
impossible to carry out and, even
worse, it opened the door wide to
the exercise of all kinds of political
and group pressures and consequent
ill will, both here and abroad.
The present law will undoubtedly
un ergo minor revision experi-
ence with its operation: dictates.
There have been some cases of in-
dividual hardship in its early applica-
tion. Some of these cases have
aroused what I believe will prove to
be unjustified apprehensions among
some of our friends abroad. I regret
this and I am sure that, as the ad-
ministration of the law, improves,
these incidents will not recur.
The aim of the opponents of this
law is not to better its execution or
revise its provisions but to destroy it.
The issue thereby raised is clear. Are
we to have an immigration policy -
impossible of fulfillment - based
primarily on the desires of Europe?
Or are we to have a policy which is
based primarily on what is good for
America?
Reprints of this article are available. Prices,
postpaid to one address: ro - 30 cents; 50 -
$1:34; roo - $2.50; 500 - $io; 1000 - $17.
Address Reprint Editor, The Reader's
Digest, Pleasantville, New York.
All Clear? A woman tourist visiting the Holy Land went to a tourist
office for information on roads. Told that it was now possible to go by car
all the way from Dan to Beersheba, she confessed, "Do you know, I never
knew that Dan and Beersheba were places. I always thought they were
husband and wife, like Sodom and Gomorrah." (Paul Steiner, Israel Laughs, Bloch)
. .. At a convention in San Francisco, two delegates from Arizona listened
as an orator praised the indomitable spirit of San Francisco "rising phoenix-
like from the ashes." Then one turned to the other and remarked in
surprise, "John, that just goes to show how much a man can learn from
traveling - even about his own home town. When was it that Phoenix
had such a whale of a big fire?" (The Christian science Monitor)
"Western Aid for Red Armament" (see page 117) will serve as spring-
board for a discussion by Sen. Lcverett Saltonstall, Chairman of the
Senate Armed Services Committee, on Theodore Granik's program "Youth
Wants to Know," televised and broadcast by NBC at 1 p.m. EDT on May 3.
pproved For Release 2003/03/2 . CTA=RDR60-DD442R000 00700
,t