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Aliens of Good Record Need Not Fear Concentration Camps in Usa, Says Mrs. Roosevelt

December 5, 1941
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Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt said yesterday that no aliens of good record in this country need fear concentration cams if this country goes to war.

The President’s wife, addressing 150 persons at the Immigrants’ Conference held at the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, said she was assured by the State Department that there was absolutely no reason why any one with a good record in this country that is, without a criminal record or connection with any criminal group – need have any feeling of anxiety.

“I hope we shall never see concentration camps in this country, though I know we need to put certain people in places where they can do no harm. But I trust we shall not be so hysterical that we came to fear people who may actually be more devoted to liberty than many of us whose ancestors came here earlier than theirs did.”

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