The number of refugees who will be resettled in the United States under the new immigration law, may very well be higher than previous estimates, James P. Rice, executive director of United Hias Service, stated today. He noted that the new law signed by President Eisenhower on July 14 provides for the admission to the U.S. of up to 25 percent of the number of United Nations mandated refugees admitted to other countries between July 1959 and July 1961.
According to the official report of the State Department, required by this law, 17,744 mandated refugees were resettled in countries other than the U.S. from July 1, 1959 through June 30, 1960. The initial State Department report, therefore, indicates a first year quota allocation for the U.S. of 4,436. Similar reports are to be issued in January and July 1961 for future admissions, giving rise to the belief that admissions under the law will exceed previous estimates, some of which forecast a ceiling of approximately 5,000 during the next two years.
While pointing out the impossibility of forecasting at the present time the number of Jewish refugees who will benefit, Mr. Rice called attention to the fact that under previous emergency immigration legislation, 2,679 Jewish refugees from the Middle East and Eastern Europe were among the 14,500 approved for admission to the U.S. With this in mind. United Hias Service offices in the U.S. and overseas are alerting prospective migrants and the members of their families in this country to the need to register without delay in order to avail themselves of the opportunities offered by the new law.
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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.
