Jewish Congress Proposes Program to Make Bill of Rights Effective

In a Bill of Rights Day statement addressed to the nation, the American Jewish Congress today proposed a five-point program to “make the guarantees and protections of the Bill of Rights continually effective for all Americans in our complex and volatile society.”

The suggested program consists of enactment by the U.S. Congress of a code of fair procedures for Congressional committees, revision of the Federal employees security program, additional legislation to combat racial and religious discrimination, stricter adherence to the Constitutional requirement of separation of church and state, and elimination of the “grossly restrictive” aspects of the immigration and naturalization laws.

The American Jewish Congress noted that under the present immigration and naturalization laws, aliens lawfully admitted to this country are “kept under the threat of deportation, a form of punishment entirely out of keeping with democratic principles. Deportation should be imposed only on aliens who originally obtained admission by fraud. Lawfully admitted aliens who commit offenses after their arrival should receive the same treatment as citizens committing the same offenses.”