Seven national Jewish organizations and twenty-seven Jewish community councils throughout the country, in a letter to Congressman Emanuel Celler today urged defeat of the Hobbs Bill, which is currently before a House immigration subcommittee, of which Mr. Celler is chairman.
The Jewish organizations-including American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, Jewish Labor Committee, Jewish War Veterans of the U.S., Union of American Hebrew Congregations, and National Council of Jewish Women, as well as the local community groups-said that the bill would give the Attorney-General a degree of control over the freedom of individuals that was in compatible with democratic institutions.
Through their coordinating council, the National Community Relations Advisory Council, the Jewish organizations said that the Hobbs Bill “raises the spectre of peacetime concentration camps in the United States.” It would make possible deportation of an alien, against his will, to a country where he might be subjected “to imprisonment, forced labor, cruel or unusual punishment, or even death,” the Jewish groups declared. It would also deprive aliens of “protection against self-incrimination, such as is assured every suspect under our criminal law, they pointed out.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
