A total of 62,600 Jewish immigrants–the majority of them displaced persona–reached the United States between May, 1946, and April, 1949 according to a survey made public today by United Service for New Americans in connection with the nationwide observance of “I Am An American Day” on Sunday.
This figure includes 6,245 Jewish DP’s who came to the United States under the provisions of the DP Act. The remainder entered the country under the Truman Directive and under regular immigration laws. The agency estimated that 25,000 Jewish emigrants will reach the U.S. in 1949.
Edwin Rosenberg, president of U.S.N.A., reported that the bulk of the Jewish newcomers to this country had friends and relatives in various parts of the country who provided for their resettlement. The U.S.N.A. was called upon to find new homes for 6,218 persons who were distributed in all parts of the country, excluding N.Y.
The settlement assistance given the Jewish DP’s by the U.S.N.A., the report added, consisted of “planning with the immigrants to determine the area best suited to their needs, arranging with the local communities for the reception of the newspapers and for their assisting them in establishing new homes.” A total of 7,847## families, including 15,600 persons, received financial or other casework assistance from the U.S.N.A. during this period, the report said. These families received its help of social workers in adjusting to their new environment until they could become self-supporting.
To assist the newcomers in effecting a speedy adjustment in their new home the U.S.N.A. president declared, the agency maintains a Vocational Service Department which counsels newcomers, refers them to job openings or assists them in during training which will lead to gainful employment. Since May, 1946, a total of 6,190 persons were placed by U.S.N.A. in various types of “Jobs, ranging from unskilled to the most highly specialized work In industry, the arts and professions.
During the period covered by the report, the U.S.N.A. port and dock workers assisted 33,908 Jewish immigrants in reaching their destinations throughout the country. Of this number 8,104 were given temporary shelter at the Hotel Marseilles in New York pending completion of plans for their resettlement.
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