The National Refugee Service, the Hias and the National Council of Jewish Women today announced that they have submitted a joint statement to the House Committee an Immigration asking for the continuance of the German immigration quota “in justice to many victims of Natism and to their relatives in this country.”
Nullification of the quota would mean that many innocent persons and even children of non-Germans born in Germany of forced or slave laborers, technically under the German quota, would be barred from immigrating to the United States, the statement pointed out.
The statement was made in response to the question of whether action should be taken to alter the existing German immigration quota or to reserve its use to certain groups, and what if any change is required in the present immigration laws.
The agencies emphasized that Nazis or other subversive elements can effectively be excluded by the American consuls abroad under present regulations without eliminating or changing the German quota. They claimed that eliminating or changing the German quota would set a precedent in the direction of discriminatory racial legislation.
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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.