The attorney for Leonid Rigerman and his mother has charged the federal government with “failure to assist these two Americans in securing exit permits from the Soviet Union for the purpose of returning to the United States.” Daniel Greer, whose formal title is First Deputy Commissioner for Ports and Terminals, wrote to Secretary of State William P. Rogers in Washington yesterday to protest that the U.S. has done nothing to effect the Rigermans’ departure from the USSR since granting Leonid Rigerman U.S. citizenship last Dec. 19–53 days ago. Rigerman, a computer programer, and his mother, Mrs. Esther Rigerman, had sought American citizenship for him on the ground that she was born in the U.S. Greer charged that during a two-hour meeting in Washington Jan. 6 between Martin J. Hillenbrand, Assistant Secretary for European Affairs, and Soviet Ambassador Anatoly F. Dobrynin, “at no point was the plight of the Rigermans raised” by Hillenbrand. Greer noted that since Dec. 19 State Department officials had “repeatedly assured” him and Congressional leaders that action was being taken to effect the Rigermans’ exit.
“To date,” Greer asserted, “our government has failed to discuss the Rigerman matter with the Soviet authorities at a high level.” He said the Rigermans’ safety in the Soviet Union was in jeopardy and demanded that their case be given top priority at the upcoming meeting in Moscow between U.S. Ambassador Jacob D. Beam and Deputy Foreign Minister Vasily V. Kuznetsov. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has for several weeks sought comment from the State Department on progress in the Rigerman case. A high Department source confirmed today that Hillenbrand indeed did not raise the matter with Dobrynin in their Jan. 6 meeting, on the ground that “It is all handled in Moscow.” The source said the Department would follow up on the case, but he would not indicate how or when. He remarked, though, that he was “not optimistic” about the Rigermans’ chances of emigration, despite their official U.S. citizenship.
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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.
