James P. Rice, executive director of the United Hias Service, urged today changes in Federal immigration procedures to ease the problems of Cuban Jews stranded in transit to the United States, while awaiting employment certification. Mr. Rice made the plea in testimony before the Senate subcommittee on Refugees and Escapees, of which Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, is chairman.
Mr. Rice said the stranded Cuban-Jewish migrants could make contributions to the professions, arts, science and business in this country. He cited as an example 61 Cuban Jewish refugees who found temporary haven in Curacao, but have encountered serious delays in waiting to be processed for entry to the United States.
The Hias executive said that, of the estimated 10, 000 Jews in Cuba when Castro took power, less than 2,400 remain, and more may leave. He said they fled not because of anti-Semitism, to which they were never subjected, but because they did not wish to live under a Communist regime, and because they did not want their children to be educated in such a regime.
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