Admission of 1,000 Refugees to United States is Not Enough, House is Told

Praising President Roosevelt for setting up the “emergency refugee shelter” at Fort Ontario, Rep. Samuel Dickstein of New York, chairman of the House Immigration Committee, told the House that providing temporary haven here for only 1,000 refugees was not enough of a contribution for the United States to make. He expressed regret that the President’s project did not go far enough and said he hopes that Congress will act to admit an unlimited number of those escaping Nazi persecution.

In a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Rep. Dickstein declared that as chairman of the House Immigration Committee he would not cancel the plan to hold a hearing on June 21 on bills urging the establishment of “free ports” in the United States for refugees from Europe. Seven congressmen have introduced such bills.

(The New York Times, in an editorial approving of President Roosevelt’s plan to establish a temporary refugee haven, said, “This is only a tiny fraction of the great mass of homeless and helpless people, of many faiths and many races, who have been victims of the Nazi terror. We hope, ourselves, that more than a more thousand can be sheltered under an expansion of the present program. But neither those who come now nor the others who may be enabled to come later will come as permanent residents of this country, in excess of the immigration quotas. They will come merely on a temporary basis.”)

Rep. John McCormack, House majority leader, told the House that there can be no issue of partisanship in the question of rescuing and alleviating the plight of oppressed Jews in Europe. “The noble traditions of this country cry out against such matters being made the subject of party politics,” he said. “Democrats and Republicans have always joined their voices in support of the nation’s historic position against tyranny and oppression.”

“I am confident,” McCormack said, “that all members of this House join with me in the feeling that every action required, consistent with the successful prosecution of the war, should be taken to rescue the Jews and other persecuted people from the barbarous persecution they are undergoing at the hands of the Nazis, and that at the proper time those guilty of these and future acts of barbarity be properly punished.”

Praising the efforts of the War Refugee Board, Rep. McCormack declared: “It is true, that when viewed in the perspective of the great number in dire need and danger, only a little has been achieved thus far. A trickle of refugees has been assisted to escape, but a start has been made.”