Major Jewish organizations and local Jewish Community Councils affiliated with the National Community Relations Advisory Council telegraphed President Eisenhower today commending him for drawing the attention of Congress to the urgent need for revision of the immigration laws.
“It is our opinion,” the telegram said, “that your recommendations that the number of persons to be admitted annually be based on the 1950 census, that provision be made for the pooling of unused quotas and that the Refugee Relief Act of 1953 be amended so that its humanitarian goal may be attained, represent steps forward to rectify some of the inequities, which exist. But we believe that these inequities will be eliminated only when the national origins quota system is abolished and admissions are based upon the democratic principle of individual merit.
“We trust that your detailed recommendations will be submitted to Congress promptly and that they will include provisions to eliminate entirely the invidious national origins quota system as well as other discriminatory, restrictive and unnecessarily harsh and rigid sections of the present law, including those which pertain to deportation. We urge you to exert the full influence of your office in behalf of the adoption, early in this session of Congress, of the amendments necessary to bring American immigration and citizenship policies into harmony with the domestic needs and the foreign policy of our country,” the message concluded.
The Democratic National Committee has criticized President Eisenhower’s State of the Union request on the Refugee Relief Act for failure to extend the expiration date of the Act so that the balance of authorized refugees can be admitted.
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.
