Two Republican members of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee and a leader of United HIAS Service today exchanged opposing viewpoints on the administration of the refugee relief program, in testimony before the Senate Immigration Subcommittee which is now holding hearings on proposals to amend the Refugee Relief Act of 1953.
Carlos L. Israels, chairman of the executive committee of United HIAS Service, appearing before the subcommittee, recommended that the administration of the refugee act be removed from the State Department Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs and that a special administrator be provided. He said that it is “unsound administratively to tie up a special program with a bureau which has many other pressing problems.” Senator Arthur Watkins replied that Mr. Israels’ proposal would be “one of the worst things that could be done at this time.” Committee chairman William Langer indicated agreement.
The United HIAS Service endorsed the Eisenhower recommendations on the refugee relief program, but indicated that the “soundest way to handle so-called emergency problems is not through special legislation but through the revision of our basic immigration law.” Mr. Israels urged that the voluntary welfare organizations as well as individuals be allowed to give guarantees, that the requirement of a certificate of re-admission be eliminated, that the two-year history requirement which in most cases is impossible to obtain be eliminated, and among others that the administration of the act be motivated by the clear and stated purpose that Congress intends it to work.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
