Press Criticizes Deportation; U.s.n.a. Prepares for Return of Refugees

Walter H. Bieringer, president of the United Service for New Americans, announced today that the agency has already initiated action to secure assurances of jobs and homes in the U.S. for those of the 106 Shanghai refugees who are declared eligible for entry. He pointed out that this will speed their eventual return here, as such assurances are required under the DP Act. Mr. Bieringer also said that the Joint Distribution Committee has been alerted to the situation of the refugee group, and will assist the returness when they arrive in Germany.

Mr. Bieringer voiced regret that the efforts of United Service to prevent the return of the refugees to Europe had failed, but said that U.S.N.A. was grateful for the American Government’s decision to permit the group to retain its DP status. He pledged that as soon as any of the refugees arrive back in the U.S. for permanent entry, United Service will make every effort to speed their resettlement and reunite them with relatives. Most of the group have close relatives here, including husbands and wives in some cases, and mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers.

Leading New York newspapers in editorials today severely criticized the deportation of the Shanghai refugees to Germany. The New York Times took issue with the argument advanced by the Department of Justice that there is no law under which these refugees can be admitted to the United States. “Until the boat sails with its human cargo tomorrow afternoon we shall refuse to believe that this is the final answer,” the Times editorial said.

The New York Herald Tribune commented similarly. “Common sense, a factor sometimes overlooked in the establishment of regulations, would seem to argue that it is foolish and unnecessarily expensive to transport people from Shanghai to San Francisco to New York and to Bremenhaven before deciding that most of them can come to America anyway,” the editorial said. “The obvious and simple procedure would seem to be to examine the refugees here–whatever time it takes–to determine which of them would be eligible for entry into this country,” it concluded.