France Seen Ready to Legalize Status of 10,000 Refugees Faced with Expulsion

Approximately 10,000 refugees from Greater Germany who are classed as illegal immigrants may be saved from threatened expulsion by having their status legalized, it was learned here today.

Their legalization, it was understood, hinges on an agreement with the Interior Minister under which Jewish relief organizations would undertake to make no further demands for admission of refugees. Acceptance of such a condition would, it was stated, enable the Interior Minister to cancel all expulsions of Reich refugees and permit them to engage in farm labor and national defense industries, but not in trades or professions.

Meanwhile, representatives of labor, social and political organizations met in conference to urge the French Government to modify the status of foreigners in order to facilitate their assimilation and acquisition of French citizenship.

The conference dealt not only with the question of refugees but also with that of ordinary immigrants. A resolution was adopted asking the Government to substitute for the present alien regulations a law defining the rights and obligations of immigrants and the possibilities of rapid naturalization, especially of those not intending to return to their native lands or wishing to join the French army.

Representatives of Jewish organizations participating in the meeting pointed out that Jewish immigrants had developed numerous industries in France, including the textile, rubber, sugar, clothing and fur. They urged that recent alien regulations be modified to permit refugees to practice their artisanship, from which they have been virtually barred in recent weeks.